


You Don't Know How Lovely You Are

by stephenrogers (Sarahj7)



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Barista Bellamy, F/M, Fluff, Multi Chapter, Smut Eventually
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-19
Updated: 2015-10-08
Packaged: 2018-04-05 05:02:00
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 36
Words: 115,488
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4166937
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sarahj7/pseuds/stephenrogers
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A nice modern college AU in which Raven and Clarke are best friends and roommates, and Clarke and Bellamy meet for the first time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first multi-chapter fic, and will probably end up being the longest thing I've ever written. I hate the slow burn so much because I'm very impatient, so they'll be dating and kissing and stuff very soon. I know I've painted Clarke as a bit of a special snowflake in this first chapter, but bare with me because she isn't this bad for very long. I'll try my best to update this weekly or quicker. I hope you enjoy :)

Clarke Griffin is too good for Starbucks. Or at least that’s what she tells herself. Instead she goes to this dump of a place called ‘The Bean’. She doesn’t know why she does it, their coffee is substandard, their cookies are stale, and their wi-fi is the slowest she’s ever had to use. Really there isn’t anything keeping her there, so why does she stay? 

She’s stubborn. If anyone had to use one word to describe Clarke it would be stubborn. Stubborn enough that she’d eat stale cookies and drink bad coffee just so she didn’t have to go to Starbucks and be one of the unoriginal and painstakingly boring ‘white girls’ that frequented there.

 

It’s Wednesday. Clarke’s weekday routine starts with her going to The Bean after her 2:00 class. Clarke, being as organized and slightly obsessive as she is, somehow managed to work her schedule so she would have a class at the same time each day. She rides her bike every day unless the weather sucks. She has a car, she just doesn’t drive it. She tells herself it’s for exercise but really she’s just trying to save gas money. She doesn’t need to save gas money though, she’s swimming in it, money from her Mom being an incredibly high profile doctor and her dad being one of the best architects in New York.

As she pedals up to the coffee shop she always hopes that nobody’s sitting in her seat in the corner by the window. She doesn’t know what she’d do with herself if it was taken. She strolls in, drops her laptop bag on her table, and walks up to the empty counter to place her everyday order. Except she doesn’t even have to say it anymore, the barista’s got it down.

“Black coffee with cinnamon, chocolate chip cookie, four dollars,” She slides her money across the counter without making eye contact with the barista. It’s less awkward being the only customer in the store that way. She nibbles on her cookie, sips on her coffee, and plugs away on her keyboard. She gets done all the work she needs to, finishes her cookie, and meets up with her friend Raven at their dorm building for dinner. Then it’s studying, bed, classes, and back to The Bean. Repeat schedule ad infinitum and you’ve got Clarke’s boring life.

 

“Come on Clarke, you can’t be so far up your own ass with your pride that you can’t even buy one drink at Starbucks just once,” Her friend Raven begs.

“What’s so good about Starbucks? It’s so pricey and I bet it’s not even worth it! I could make one of those frappy things myself for like two dollars. I guess, that is, if I had a blender.”

“Clarke! Just once! Please! I can’t drink two frapps myself but we have to get two to take advantage of the sale! It’s buy one get one half! How good of a deal is that! And you know how I am about sales!” Not many people are born into as much money as Clarke; so Clarke sometimes has trouble wrapping her head around why Raven’s so desperate for them.

“Alright! I’ll join the cult! I’ll drink the Kool-Aid! But only for the sake of my ridiculously annoying friend who has to take advantage of every single sale or she’ll die.” Clarke finally acquiesces after nearly two years of Raven’s torment. Raven’s face lights up, and she grabs Clarke by the hand to drag her into the cafe. Clarke breathes out a huff as she notices the length of the line. She uses it as an advantage to check out the menu though. All of the options look too fancy and convoluted for her, she decides she’s just going to have a plain coffee frappuccino, just something simple to get it over with. It’s her first look at the barista that Clarke knows this Starbucks trip will be anything but simple. 

“Hey Raven, check out the barista.” Clarke whispers. Raven scans the barista’s face like a barcode, scrunching her nose and furrowing her brow in a very cartoony and adorable way.

“Really? He’s nothing to look at. And he’s definitely not your type.”

“Are you sure? You’re just saying that because you don’t want me telling Wick you were checking out another guy.” Clarke watches the barista’s face as he takes the order of the lady two in front of her. He’s definitely attractive, but Raven’s right, he’s not her type. He looks like a typical-Starbucks-surfer-type, which makes Clarke kick herself. He’s not blond, in fact his hair is quite dark, but he’s got that long kind-of-curly-kind-of-wavy hair that sends her brain straight to the beach. And all she wants to do is rake her fingers through it. His eyes are a kind of amber brown that shines like a jewel, and his beautifully tan face is spattered with freckles. His teeth are perfectly straight and his smile is inviting, even in the coy and insincere way he flashes it. But Raven really is right, he’s not her type. He’s too flirty, overconfident and cocky, and Clarke really doesn’t know if she could ever like a Starbucks guy. Clarke has finished her internal debate by the time it’s their turn to order, but she lets Raven order first anyway.

“grande soy mocha frapp two pumps espresso extra whip,” Clarke rolls her eyes at that, failing to understand why Raven couldn’t just order something simple for the barista’s sake.

“And who’s this for?” His voice is deep and sexy, slightly raspy but not enough to be described as gravelly.

“Raven, and this one’s ordering with me, we’re taking advantage of the buy one get one.”

“Alright beautiful, what’ll it be?” He says to Clarke. She rolls her eyes again. Her mom always tells her that if she keeps rolling her eyes like that she’ll pull a muscle, but Clarke being a pre-med knows that that’s highly unlikely and practically impossible to pull off. 

“Just a coffee frapp for me.”

“Size?”

“Oh um, small I guess.”

“And who’s it for?”

“Me?”

“No, what’s the name for the cup dumby.” The barista smiles wide and Clarke scoffs, trying to cover up the fact that her cheeks are heating up.

“Clarke.”

“That’s a pretty name. Has it got an E on the end?”

“Yeah.” Raven pays for the order and Clarke goes to the end of the counter to wait for their drinks. They meet at a table near the front door, obviously in the corner by the window. Raven watches Clarke intently as Clarke takes the first sip of her frappuccino.

“So how does it feel losing your Starbucks virginity?” Raven asks.

“This is definitely not worth all the hype. Losing my real virginity was at least 50,000 times better.”

“Well yeah, because you ordered a fucking boring-ass drink. Try mine! This drink is a million better than what that trashcan Finn passed off for sex.” Raven cringes as she says the name of the guy who, quote ‘took her virginity and shat on it’. The same guy who cheated on Raven with Clarke, and the same guy that somehow, through all the chaos and havoc, brought her and Raven together.

“Nope, I refuse, I’ve made up my mind. I will forever visit the craphole that is The Bean!” She lies, liking her ‘boring-ass’ frapp more and more with every sip.

 

The next day Clarke rides her bike to The Bean. And past The Bean. And to the Starbucks. Every cell of her body is full of regret as she walks in and sees a group of young blonde highschool girls taking selfies with their cups. Is that what she’ll become? Clarke is one of those people who thinks she’s original for refusing to get an instagram account, while the rest of her friends just agree she’s high-strung and stubborn. There’s only one person in line in front of her this time, and it’s the same barista. She convinces herself again that she’s not attracted to him, and she hates herself for needing to do so. 

“Grande caramel frapp, no whip.”

“Is this for Clarke? Clarke with an E?” Clarke’s stomach twists when he says her name. Why would he remember?

“Yep.” She says, coolly and disconnected as possible.

She pays for her drink and walks down the counter to get it. She watches the barista flirt just as much with every female customer as he did with her, and she’s kind of thankful that it made her feel a lot less special.

Clarke continues the same routine for a whole week the same way she did at The Bean. The barista continues to flirt with her and she continues to pretend and convince herself she isn’t attracted to him. 

 

It’s Thursday, exactly a week after she visited Starbucks with Raven for the first time. It’s like any regular day, except not at all. She walks into the Starbucks and is immediately greeted with a loud and obnoxious “Clarke!? Clarke Griffin!? Clarke Griffin the Bean Queen?” Clarke feels her face go red at the sound of Raven’s voice, which is oozing with sarcasm and judgement.

“What the hell are you doing here? I don’t know if you know this, but this isn’t your ironic, hipster shithole.”

“Let’s just skip the pleasantries. Yes, I am at Starbucks. Yes, I am buying a drink. Yes, that is all this is.”

Raven squeals and accompanies Clarke to the line. But having Raven here makes Clarke ask herself why she’s really at the Starbucks. She’s too stubborn to drop The Bean just for better coffee. She searches her brain and finally, as she reaches the counter, sees her real reason. And weirdly enough, she embraces it, expecting a lot of ridicule from Raven for it.

“If it isn’t Clarke, Clarke with an E, my favourite customer!” The barista says, displaying his obnoxiously beautiful teeth.

“And if it isn’t my favourite barista!” The barista is taken aback by Clarke’s sudden pleasantness, as shown by his eyebrows jumping to his hairline. He was used to cold and disconnected Clarke, now all of a sudden she’s flirty and bubbly and sweet. It takes him a second to re-calibrate and calculate his next move.

“What’ll it be today Princess?” 

“You know what, you can order for me today. Make me your favourite, something nice and sweet.” 

The barista writes all the details of the order on Clarke’s cup and rings her up, smiling widely the whole time. Clarke goes to the table and lets Raven pick up the drinks.

“Look how he spelled your name.” Raven says when she gets back to the table.

Clarke takes her cup and turns it, trying to find where her name is written on it. Raven grabs her hand and turns it so Clarke is looking at the place where her name should be written. But there isn’t a name written there. Instead, there’s a series of numbers.

“Is this what I think it is?” Clarke asks.

Raven gives her a look that says ‘what are you, stupid?’ which elicits the next stupid question from Clarke.

“Should I call him?”

Raven gives her the same look again, and says: “Based on how you’ve gotten around him we both know you’d be positively stupid not to.”

“Well yeah, but, I don’t know if I’m confident enough, he seems really cocky.”

“Clarke this is ridiculous. You’re never like this, you’re one of the most confident girls I know. You’re in your second year of University, you’ve called and dated probably eight different guys and probably ten different girls. And sometimes you even make the first move, which I’ve never done. what’s the big deal?”

“I really don’t know what’s going on, but I really don’t like it.”

“Well you can at least go after the barista at The Bean then, I mean from the one time you dragged me there I think she was pretty cute! And what about that girl two doors down in the dorm. I’ve seen you two flirting up a storm!”

“I don’t think I’m going to go to The Bean anymore, I think I’ve finally decided that it’s not worth the bad coffee and the stale cookies.”

“And where are you going to go instead?”

Clarke gulps, but decides there’s no point in hiding it, and proceeds: “Here. I’ve actually been coming here all week.”

Raven bursts out into hysterics. She throws her head back and she slaps her leg and she laughs hard and long and loud. Clarke is concerned by Raven’s complete disregard for appropriate Starbucks behaviour. Just a few seconds into the laugh most of the cafe is already looking over at her. Clarke claps a hand on her friend’s shoulder.

“Raven, shut up, I fucking swear you’re getting eyes from everyone here.”

“Sorry, sorry,” She regains her composure, “I just can’t believe after years of trying to convert you to Starbucks you finally give in after some surfer-type gives you his number. Clarke I have no idea who you are anymore.”

“What are you talking about?” Clarke knew what Raven was talking about.

“Just last week you were too stubborn to even step into a Starbucks. Just last week you forced yourself to go to that dark hell-hole of a coffee shop just to be ironic. Just last week you were pulling so many good lines on that girl two doors down that I thought you would get at it in the middle of the cafeteria. But now you’re getting all flirty and flustered about some barista. Who are you Clarke Griffin?”

“Okay first off I already slept with that girl two doors down and man she had no idea what she was doing. Secondly I’m a lot smoother with girls than I am with guys. Thirdly I was thinking of dropping The Bean anyway. And fourthly come on girl he’s cute as fuck I’m allowed to be flustered around him.”

“Whatever you say hun. So when are you gonna call him then?”

“I don’t know, tonight seems too desperate doesn’t it? I think I usually wait a night or two before calling people.”

“Clarke, out of the two of us you’re the expert. You’ve gotten way way way more action than I have, to be honest I’ve really only ever been with two guys. Wow, never did I think I would see the day that Clarke Griffin didn’t know how to make a move. This really is a sight to see.”

“Shut it you! Hey look, he doesn’t have any customers right now, do you think I should go up and talk to him?”

“Do you think you can handle it? It’s your call.”

“I think I can do it.” And with that Clarke gets up and crosses the restaurant. She has her drink in her hand.

“Hey Princess, there a problem with your drink? I promise you the drink is a little odd but it really is supposed to taste like that.” The barista jokes.

“Well not really with the drink, but with the cup. You spelled my name wrong!”

The barista giggles and takes Clarke’s cup, “Oh yeah, looks like I did, let me just rub that out and fix it,” He puts his thumb over the first number.

“No!” Clarke yells, hopping up slightly and reaching over the counter for her cup. The barista giggles even more and lets a smug look appear on his face as he puts down the cup. He offers his hand.

“I’m Bellamy.”

“Clarke, but you already knew that.” Clarke takes Bellamy’s hand with her own and he shakes it firmly. 

“My shift ends at 7:00, call me tonight.”

“Deal. What the hell is even in this thing?” She looks at the column on the cup where the order is supposed to go, and can’t interpret the incoherent scribbles for the life of her.

“It’s my secret recipe! I can never tell!” Clarke rolls her eyes again, but in a kind of flirty way this time, and smiles. They exchange goodbyes and promises to call, before Clarke turns back from her table resisting the urge to skip. As she approaches her friend, she shows her more of her teeth than she’s ever seen.

“I assume that horrible look on your face means it went well?”

“It went perfectly, he asked me to call him tonight.”

“So I guess that means there’s no love for that girl two doors down.”

“Raven, she’s as gay as the day is long and she couldn’t find my clit. No love for the girl two doors down.”

“Okay okay Clarke TMI. I’m happy for you though. I can tell you really like this guy. Plus it’s about time you broke out of this one night stand shit, who knows, maybe you’ll fall in love with this guy.”

 

They get back to the dorm after dinner and plop down on their respective beds. Clarke immediately changes into her pajamas and ties her hair into a messy bun, a habit she took from her mom. She knows Raven doesn’t plan on staying home for very long, because she usually does just the same.

“I guess you should probably give that Starbucks guy a call. What’s his name by the way?”

“Bellamy.”

“Like Bellamy Blake? Bellamy Blake as in Octavia Blake? Octavia Blake who you had a crush on for like five months in first year? Oh my God was this guy’s sister your first gay crush! Clarke, I’m gonna cry. There are tears in my eyes!” Raven giggles as she fans her eyes with her hands mockingly.

“I’m not sure, he hasn’t told me his last name yet. I do remember hearing Octavia talk about her annoying overprotective brother Bellamy though. Nothing ever happened between Octavia and I, cuz she’s straight, so I never did end up meeting her brother.”

“Well I’m pretty sure Bellamy Blake is the only Bellamy in the whole world so that’s probably what you’re dealing with. Imagine that, Clarke Griffin getting it with all the Blakes.”

“Well I don’t know how this Bellamy thing is gonna go, and I never ‘got it’ with Octavia, so don’t get too ahead of yourself.”

“Well I think I’m going on a double date tonight. Wick and I are going out dancing with Jasper and Monty, so I will leave you to your call.”

“Wait a second, Jasper and Monty are a thing now?”

“I think so, I mean they like to say they’re just friends, and Jasper adamantly and vehemently INSISTS that he’s straight, but after that surprise party thing I can’t trust them to be honest with me about anything. Anyway I’m just gonna throw on something nicer than this shit and then I’m out.”

Raven changes quickly in the corner of the room, and mouths ‘good luck’ to Clarke as she leaves. Clarke takes out her phone and tentatively punches in the numbers from the cup. 

“It’s your lucky day, you’ve reached Bellamy Blake!” Clarke giggles, but her stomach twists now that she knows that he really is Octavia's brother.

“Hey Bellamy, it’s Clarke.”

“Ah yes, my favourite customer. Well how’s it going Princess?” Clarke notices he used the same nickname three times, thinking he’ll probably stick with it. It’s not a great nickname, but there are many worse options.

“It’s okay, I’m putting off studying for this so you’d better make it worth it.”

“You go to school around here?”

“Yeah, I’m in my second year of pre-med, you?”

“I’m majoring in history, graduating next year.” While the numbers seem to imply that the two are only a year apart, Clarke skipped a grade and started a year eraly, and Bellamy took a gap year to start a year late.

“And what do you plan to do with a history major?”

“I don’t know, probably teach it. Probably get my bachelor of education after this if I can scrape up the funds. That’s another two years though. I really haven’t thought this through as much as I probably should have. I’m really into mythology though, the Roman and Greek stuff especially. I could teach english too! I’m babbling, go.”

“I’ve still got like seven more years of this shit to go. I’m thinking of just dropping right out and getting an art major.” She laughs.

“I guess a med student doesn’t get very much free time. Got enough for dinner?”

“Yeah sure. My last class is at 2:00, ends at 3:30, but I guess you don’t get off til seven.”

“Yeah, I work til seven on weeknights and noon til six on weekdays. Six hours at Starbucks is ridiculous.”

In order to work around both of their completely ridiculous schedules, they have to meet up for dinner at 8:00. Clarke is a firm believer in never eating large meals after eight, but in order for anything to work out between her and Bellamy she has to make sacrifices. They decide he’ll pick her up at her dorm, and since she never eats anywhere other than the mess hall in her residence, she gives him creative freedom of location.

Clarke hangs up the phone and tries to calm herself down enough to study her anatomy lecture from earlier that day. She squeezes about 15 minutes of good studying into about two hours until she finally gives up and decides she needs to sleep if she’s gonna make it to her 9:00 AM class the next day.


	2. chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clarke and Bellamy go on their first date!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I could've made this two short chapters or one long chapter, so lucky you I did the second one!

Clarke is excited all day the next day. She has trouble focusing in her classes because her brain keeps jumping to how she could hear Bellamy smiling when she was talking to him. It also jumps to how excited she is to actually see Bellamy smile later that night. She’d never met a guy that she got along with so well right from the start. She doesn’t go to The Bean after her classes but she doesn’t go to Starbucks either. She’s officially given up on The Bean but she also thinks it would be weird to show up at the Starbucks where Bellamy works right before their date. Instead she goes back to her dorm. She’s there by 4:00 and she still has another four hours before Bellamy comes to pick her up. She cracks open her laptop and starts working on her biology paper. She’s surprised with how immersed she got in her paper, as she’s still working when Raven comes into the dorm at 6:30.

“You ready for dinner? I think it’s meatloaf tonight in the caf.” Raven asks.

“I thought I told you, I’m going on a date with Sir Blake tonight.”

“You asked him out?”

“No, he asked me out, and frankly I’m insulted you’d think I’d have to make the move.”

“No, Clarke, it’s just that you usually do. Well I’m happy for you, I can tell you really like this guy. And when’s the last time you actually went out on a date? Lately you’ve really been a hookup girl.”

“Well who knows, this might turn into a hookup.”

“No Clarke! Keep it classy! This is a first date!”

“If you insist, I’m bringing one of these just in case though.” Clarke slides a square silver packet into her purse, and Raven rolls her eyes.

“Well you’ve got about an hour and a half still, how much getting ready do you plan on doing?”

“Honestly I have no idea where he’s taking me. He wouldn't tell me, told me he wanted to surprise me. Thus, I have no idea how to dress.”

“First off did you just say 'thus' out loud? Secondly, I can’t imagine he’s taking you anywhere too fancy, seeing as he’s paying for school and working at Starbucks. I’d go for something classy-casual, like a sundress of sorts. Something you’d wear on the regular but could also pass for something you’d wear to a wedding.”

“I think I know exactly the thing.” Clarke goes over to the closet on her side of the room and ruffles through endless pieces of clothing until she finds what she’s looking for. She throws it across the room at Raven.

“Oh my God Clarke! How much cleavage do you plan on showing? You really do wanna sleep with this guy, don’t you?”

“Is it too much? I probably have something else in here if that’s gonna be too much.” She continues to erratically search her closet.

“You know what, we’ve got time, try it on for me and I’ll see if it’s too revealing for a first date.”

Clarke takes the dress from Raven and turns her back to her. She changes quickly.

“If you want to get laid tonight you’d better change your panties. If I got your pants off and saw those I’d help you put ‘em back on.”

Clarke continues to slink into the dress, ignoring Raven’s comment. She did plan on changing her underwear later anyway. As a just in case. Clarke turns around to show Raven the dress. It’s a pastel greenish colour that’s tight to the small part of her waist and then flows loosely to the top of her knee. It has sleeves down to her elbows and a relatively plunging neckline. 

“Yeah, I don’t think it’s that bad, but I definitely think you’ll need a little bit more push-up than that hun.”

“Thank you for critiquing my underwear more than the piece of clothing that I’m actually trying to show you. I was planning on changing into sexier undergarments anyway, mind you.”

“Yeah, I think the dress is pretty perfect. If you want privacy to change out of your granny panties I’ll be over here facing the wall.”

Clarke breathes out a huff and changes, putting on a housecoat so she can do her hair and makeup. She lets Raven fire up the curling wand while she starts on a cat-eye. By the time Clarke’s face and hair are ready for going out it’s 7:30. She picks out shoes, jewellery, and puts everything on, and by then it’s time to go down to the lobby of the residence. Raven kisses her on the cheek before bidding her good luck.

Clarke reaches the lobby by 7:50, surprised to see that Bellamy is already there. Clarke is glad about her clothing choice seeing as he went with something of similar caliber. He has on dress pants and dress shoes with a pale pink dress shirt. His hair is gelled back, looking far neater than the mussy surfer look he had going on at the Starbucks. She can tell exactly when he sees her, because his eyes light up and a big toothy grin spreads across his face. He wraps his hand around her waist when he greets her and kisses her on the head. She’s surprised with how touchy he is already, but thinks that it might suggest some action later that night.

“So where are you taking me?” She asks, climbing in the car door that he so kindly opened for her.

“It’s a surprise, can’t tell you til we get there,” He says, climbing into the driver’s seat, “Mostly because I can’t actually remember what the restaurant is called.” 

He flicks on some alternative radio station and drives wordlessly to their destination. When they arrive at the restaurant, Clarke is underwhelmed. The restaurant is incredibly dingy looking outside. The walkway is surrounded by overgrown shrubbery, and opposed to saying Murphy’s, the sign instead say Murp, because the lights on the PHY’S are burned out.

“I know it doesn’t look like much, but this place is home to the literal best lasagna I’ve ever eaten. If you don’t have one you’re missing out.”

“Well you’re not ordering for me, so even if I end up ordering the lasagna, it was my decision and not yours.”

“Why do I always end up with the snarky and sassy and independent type. Snarky and sassy and independent is my thing!” Bellamy makes a good show of looking legitimately angry, but giggles and places his hand on Clarke’s back as he holds the door for her into the restaurant.  
They’re greeted by an excruciatingly blonde hostess, and are directed to their table immediately. Clarke begins to dread small talk.

“You from around here?” Bellamy asks.

“I actually grew up just a few hours North of here. My parents still live there, and I guess I kind of do too considering my dorm isn’t really a permanent residence. You?”

“Yeah I come from Tennessee actually. Haven’t really visited since my first year though. Me and my Dad don’t really get along,” He gets dead eyes from Clarke when he pauses, “Oh, shit, sorry, that probably wasn’t first date conversation, did I make you uncomfortable?”

“No, no, and don’t worry about it, that was actually super rude of me.” And this is why Clarke dreads smalltalk. The waitress comes in with glasses of water, cutting the awkwardness with a freshly sharpened butcher’s knife. Bellamy goes to grab his glass from the table but knocks it over, sending water right down Clarke’s dress and into her lap.

“Oh shit, oh shit I’m so sorry, fuck.” Bellamy spews swears like he gets paid for it, getting glances across the dining room from both and elderly couple and the parents of a family with younger kids.

“Don’t worry about it, I think I have some tissues in my purse.” Clarke begins to fumble awkwardly with her purse, and accidentally spills it’s contents onto the table. Right in front of her is the single thing worse than having water spilled down her dress. A little silver square packet. A light pink crosses Bellamy’s tan and freckled cheeks, and Clarke goes completely pale. Clarke scrambles to get all of her belongings back into her purse and runs off to the washroom. She calls Raven.

“What is it Clarke?” She says, voice slightly warbly due to the sub-par network connection in the bathroom.

“I fucked up Raven, I fucked up really bad. Well he fucked up first but then I fucked up and now it’s all fucked up. Fuck.” 

“What happened?” Raven, surprisingly, sounds genuinely concerned.

“Okay, well first he spilled water on me, and then I was looking for tissues in my purse when I accidentally spilled everything out. And you know what was in there right?”

“Tampons? Clarke he knows you menstruate, you are a woman.”

“No Raven! The condom!”

“Oh fuck Clarke, you did fuck up. There’s no getting you out of this one, you’d better probably flee the country. How dare a young adult carry contraception around in her purse! Will she be doing the terrible disgraceful act of.. SAFE SEX!? Bellamy will never look at you the same, he will know, that you, an attractive young woman, have DONE SEX.”

“Okay I guess it kinda does sound stupid, but it was so embarrassing. He probably knows I had it in there for tonight!” Clarke hears a knock on the bathroom door.

“Are you okay in there? Can I come in?” It’s Bellamy.

“This is the ladies’ washroom, but I guess.” Clarke hangs up her phone and sticks it in her purse as Bellamy walks in. He sees how red her face is and puts his hand on the small of her back. 

“If this is about the water, that was all my fault there is no reason to be embarrassed. And if this is about the condom, there is also no need to be embarrassed, because here:” Bellamy starts taking condoms out of his pockets and dropping them on the floor. There are at least five. Clarke takes the one from her purse out and throws it on the floor to join Bellamy’s. Then she takes one out of her bra and throws it in the pile too. They both giggle, marvelling at the miniature mountain of condoms they’ve created. The door to the washroom starts opening, so Bellamy quickly kicks the pile of condoms under the sink counter. A mother with her young daughter walk in.

“Um, excuse me sir, this is the ladies’ washroom.” The mother says.

“Yes, this lady here just brought that to my attention. I was just leaving. Sorry for the inconvenience.” Bellamy’s cheeks go pink and he hurries out the door. The mother and her daughter go into a stall, so Clarke starts shoving the condoms from the floor into her purse. She leaves the washroom and goes back to her table, completely forgetting about her wet dress.

“You’re still soaked,” Bellamy says when Clarke makes it back to the table, “Do you wanna just go pick up McDonalds or something and postpone this date til another time?”

“I think I would like that. But it’d better be here, you’ve made me really curious about this lasagna.” A grin crosses Bellamy’s face.

“I thought you said you didn’t want me to order for you.”

“You’re not, I’ve made my own personal decision that you’ve made me really interested in the lasagna.” Clarke winks the best she can, even though she knows full well that she’s wretched at it. 

Clarke stands up, and Bellamy follows after placing a five dollar bill on the table. That definitely scores him some brownie points in Clarke’s head. They get in the car and Bellamy drives to the nearest McDonalds.

“Do you really wanna go in in that dress? You’re literally soaked. Why don’t we go back to my place and I’ll get you something dry to put on.”

“That would be really nice. But I’m gonna tell you right now we are not using these condoms tonight.” Bellamy blushes again.

“I know Princess, and that’s not what I was getting at, don’t worry. I just don’t want you to have to sit there in wet clothes, that’s all.” They pull up to a townhouse that’s about a 15 minutes’ drive away from the university. Bellamy leads Clarke into the house and up to his bedroom.

“I don’t know how well my stuff will fit you,” Bellamy starts, “Your boobs are a lot bigger than mine.” Clarke laughs. Bellamy rifles through his drawers and picks out a grey v-neck t-shirt and some black sweat pants.

They decide that Bellamy had better change too, because he’d look wildly out of place in a dress shirt. He unbuttons his shirt and throws it on his bed. Clarke can’t help herself but stare at his rigid back and arms, wishing she could see him from the front.

“Oh shit, do you want some privacy?” He asks.

“Nah, don’t worry about it, just look the other way.” He continues to face away from her as she slides out of her dress and drops it in a heap on the floor. His shirt is excessively tight on her around the chest and very loose around her waist. She tucks it into the sweatpants which she ties as tight as they go to keep them from falling off her waist. 

Once she’s completely changed, she calls to Bellamy and tells him it’s okay to turn around. He’s wearing something very similar to her, and she figures it’s probably the exact same sweatpants in a different colour.

Clarke grabs her dress from the floor and goes back with Bellamy to his car. They drive back to the McDonalds, place their orders, and sit down at a table in a corner with a window. Clarke never sits in any other type of seat if she has the choice.

“All we need is candles and this will be the most romantic date I’ve ever had.” Bellamy says after taking a bite out of his burger. Clarke is relieved by his sarcasm, because it relieves a lot of tension.

“Yeah, I think it’s so sweet how we’re sharing a paper ketchup cup.” Clarke says, dipping a fry. They nibble away in peace for a while, Clarke completely finishing her fries having only taken a couple bites out of her burger.

“Hey, I’m sorry this date was a fuckup, but as long as you’re up for it I really was serious about taking you back out to that lasagna place.” Bellamy says, reaching across the table to put his hand on Clarke’s.

“As long as it doesn’t end up like this one!” Clarke giggles.

“No silly, definitely not another like this,” He takes Clarke’s hand and kisses it, “You’re very beautiful, even in my crumby lounge clothes.”

“And lemme just tell you, watching you change was a treat.” Bellamy’s face goes pink again. Clarke is surprised by how susceptible to blushing he is considering how tan his skin is. 

They finish their burgers quickly, sometimes catching each other’s eyes and blushing slightly. They order sundaes to go and eat them in Bellamy’s car on the way back to Clarke’s dorm building. When they get to the residence, Bellamy gets out of the car and opens the door for her.

“My Princess,” He says as she gets out. He walks her up to the lobby of the dorm and takes her hands.

She kisses him on the cheek, reassuring him for the billionth time that she actually did have a good time and even though the date went to shit he still wants to keep seeing him. It’s still comforting for him to hear, even though he knows it full well at this point.

“Oh and you probably want these back,” Clarke says, grabbing five of the seven condoms out of her purse. Bellamy laughs loudly and accepts the condoms, shoving them into his pocket. He kisses her on the top of the head and goes back to his car. It’s 10:00 when Clarke gets back up to her dorm, and Raven is studying at her desk.

“So how did it go?” She asks when Clarke enters the room. She doesn’t turn from her books, but Clarke goes on anyway.

“It went really horribly, but it was nice.”

“That doesn’t make any sense, but I’ll go with it. I assume since you’re back so early you didn’t get any action?”

“Nope, no action for Clarkey, but I did get to see him change.”

“Ooh tell me about it!”

“Shredded!”

“Nice! Wait a sec are you wearing his clothes?”

“Yeah, remember how I told you he spilled water down my dress at the restaurant.”

“Sorry, so you changed, at his house, into his clothes, but you didn’t fuck him? Who are you Clarke Griffin?”

“This is the second time you’ve asked me that this week. And quite frankly, I’m not even sure. I don’t know, it just didn’t feel appropriate to have sex with him after the date went so wrong. Plus I was content just having a nice date with him.”

“Bitch, from what I’m hearing it wasn’t a nice date, but hell if I know, I wasn’t on it.”

“We decided together that we’d like to go on another date. Do you figure he’ll call me? Or should I call him?”

“I’d call if he doesn’t call by tomorrow night. You don’t wanna seem too desperate.” Right on cue, Clarke’s phone starts ringing.

“Yeah?”

“Tomorrow, 7:00, be ready, same place.”

“You’re on.” Clarke hangs up.

“Look at that Raven, we’re back on for tomorrow night!”

“Fuck him for me.” Raven pulls headphones on and goes back to studying. Clarke decides it’s in her best interest to do the same, because if things go her way tomorrow she won’t be doing any studying tomorrow night.

 

The next day goes by surprisingly fast. It’s 6:00 before she knows it, and Raven isn’t in the dorm so she’s left to herself to get ready. She picks out a dark pink dress with a high neck but a tight fit all the way down to her mid thigh. She braids her hair because she’s too lazy to curl it, and does some simple natural make-up. She meets Bellamy in the lobby at 6:50.

“If only my date was this hot.” He says when he sees Clarke. “Oh wait, she is!” Clarke is amazed with how comfortable Bellamy is making remarks like that right from the get-go. 

“You aren’t looking too bad yourself.” She says. She wraps her arm around his waist and lets him lead her to his car. They get seated at their table immediately when they enter the restaurant, and this time Clarke orders herself a virgin strawberry margarita and Bellamy orders a beer.

“You guys ready to order?” Their waitress asks.

“Two lasagnas!” Bellamy answers.

“Hey, no, I can order for myself! I’ll have a lasagna please.” The waitress can’t help but giggle and their charming chemistry. She writes the order down on her notepad and goes toward the kitchen.

“So that house you took me to yesterday, you live there alone?”

“Nah, I’ve got a couple roommates, Starbucks doesn’t exactly pay the bills.”

“Yeah I’ve got a roommate too, Raven, but it's not so much for the money as it is for the friendship. My parents are paying for my whole education.”

“Wow I didn’t realise I was dating a rich-ass snob. Let’s reconsider who’s paying for this meal.” Bellamy jokes.

“I’ve got it if you want me to, I definitely don’t mind. Especially after I ordered this fucking six dollar margarita that totally isn’t worth it. Definitely not as good without the alcohol. Fuck being 19.” Bellamy stifles a laugh, but insists on Clarke letting him pay.

“I can’t do that now Bellamy. If you really want to though, you can take the tip.” Bellamy laughs and Clarke takes a sip of her drink. Their waitress comes around with a loaf of bread.

“So how did you find this dump of a place with the world’s best lasagna.” Clarke asks, cutting herself a small slice of the bread.

“A buddy from first year, John’s parents own the place, which I guess is why it’s called Murphy’s, and he treated me to some free lasagna as a housewarming gift. We kicked him out of the house after first year though cuz he was a dick. But I’m forever grateful to him for introducing me to this lasagna.”

“So you’ve never tried anything here other than the lasagna?”

“Nope, and I don’t need to.”

The two chat about nothing for another ten minutes until their lasagna shows up. Clarke takes a second to marvel at the tremendous pile of noodles and sauce and beef and cheese sitting in front of her.

“Pretty fucking stupendous, isn’t it,” Says Bellamy, already having taken a mouthful.

After powdering her meal with a good helping of parmesan cheese, Clarke scoops a bite of the gargantuan lasagna onto her fork and slowly puts it in her mouth. She smiles wide as she chews, trying to taste every layer of flavour.

“You were right Bell, that’s a pretty damn good lasagna.”

“And to think my sister Octavia doesn’t even like it, you might know her, I know she was taking a few of the science courses and I think she’s in your year,”

Clarke’s stomach twists at hearing Octavia’s name, but she manages to keep it cool: “Oh yeah, I think she was in my first year chemistry.”

Not many words are exchanged as they both stuff their faces with the saucy, cheesy, gooey goodness. Clarke gives up with about three more bites left on her plate.

“I can’t do it Bellamy, it’s too much.” Bellamy doesn’t even flinch before dumping the rest of Clarke’s lasagna onto his own plate and finishing it off. Clarke laughs loudly.

“Save any room for dessert Princess?”

“Oh God I don’t think so. I’m pretty much stuffed to the brim.”

“Well we’re getting some cheesecake to go then, because that shit’s almost better than their lasagna.”

He places the order for the cheesecake, and they talk in sporadic 30 second conversations until it arrives. Bellamy swallows his pride enough to let Clarke pay for the meal, but he leaves a pretty hefty tip.

“My place or yours?” Bellamy asks when they get into his car.

“Raven is probably home so I’d say yours. More privacy there.” Clarke feels kind of weird being so forward about wanting to have sex with him. But wanting privacy could mean anything, maybe just verbal privacy for all Bellamy knows. Why is she kidding herself, he knows she wants sex and she knows he wants it too. She takes off her shoes.

Bellamy takes Clarke’s hand and takes her up the stairs to his bedroom. Bellamy swings the door shut behind them and presses Clarke up against the wall with his hips. He starts by kissing her neck playfully, but she’s frustrated by how slow he’s taking it and brings his lips up to hers. It’s their first kiss, so it’s Clarke’s first scope of just how soft his beautiful thin lips are. The kiss is less desperate and more romantic than she thought it would be. She worries if that means what she thinks it means, but she just goes with it. 

They don’t open their mouths for a while, and when they do it’s quite slow and passionate. Clarke can taste the mint from the restaurant on Bellamy’s breath, and she’s glad it’s that instead of the lasagna. His tongue goes first, tracing small circles just behind Clarke’s front teeth. Clarke’s hands work their way up behind Bellamy’s shoulders and into his hair, and Bellamy’s hands stay on Clarke’s hips. 

Bellamy’s hair feels just like Clarke hoped it would. Even with the gel in it, it’s thick and easily wraps around her fingers to keep her hands occupied. She pushes her face further up into the kiss, clashing their teeth and dimpling his cheek with her nose. Bellamy’s breath starts to come in hotter and faster, and his hands move back onto her ass. She takes that as cue to start with the buttons of his shirt. She manages to push it open quickly, but she doesn’t push it off. She places her hands on the sides of his bare torso and runs her thumbs over the bulges of muscle that she knew would be there without even looking. 

She can feel his mouth start to pull away, and not wanting his mouth to leave hers she bites his bottom lip. He takes the message in stride and goes back to a rhythmic massage, also beginning to work her dress up over her hips. She begins to hum quietly as she undoes his belt and unbuttons his pants. She manages to shove them down without taking her lips off of his. Sadly though, in order to get her dress off their lips have to separate. He takes that advantage to bring his lips to her neck. Obviously Bellamy enjoys doing it, so she lets him make out with her neck, even though she would rather be doing something different.

He leaves a trail of faint bruises down her pale skin as he makes his way down her collarbone and to her breast. She unhinges her bra and lets it fall to the floor, giving him access to her nipple. He nibbles at it playfully, and she giggles because it tickles. He sweeps his hand behind her thigh and scoops her up into his arms, causing another onslaught of giggling. Clarke points toward the bed and Bellamy follows her lead. He throws her on the bed hard and climbs on top of her, arching his back and craning his neck to peck her on the lips. He rolls over beside her and breathes out a huff.

“You tired?” She asks.

“A little. I can keep going if you want me to.”

“Nah, you ruined the mood. I’m cool with just cuddling now. Raven told me I shouldn’t sleep with you on our first date anyway.”

“This isn’t our first date.”

“Well it’s our first good date.”

Bellamy opens his arms for Clarke and she rolls into his chest. He kisses her eyelids and interlaces his legs with hers. It doesn’t take long before Bellamy’s asleep, but Clarke never falls asleep quickly. She rests her head on his fairly muscular chest and focuses on its rise and fall with his breathing. She suddenly remembers something and stirs him awake. Thankfully, he’s right on the edge of sleep and is relatively easy to wake up.

“What is it Princess?” He says groggily.

“We never ate that cheesecake.”

“Oh shit!” He gets up and runs out of the room, down the stairs, and to the car. He grabs the take away container from the front seat while Clarke stands waiting in the doorway and covering her chest, wearing nothing but a lace thong.

“Why the fuck did you follow me? You’re not wearing any clothes! Get back up to my room oh my goodness.” He’s laughing the whole time he says it, “Throw something on and meet me in the kitchen.”

“Why do I have to get dressed?”

“I have three roommates, and I'm sure neither of us want one of them to see you naked. Put on some clothes.”

“Fine,” Clarke huffs and runs up the stairs to Bellamy’s room. She’s excited by the amount of freedom he’s given her in there. She swaps her underwear for a pair of his (which are actually surprisingly comfy) and she throws on a t-shirt. When she meets him in the kitchen he’s already taken a few bites of the cheesecake.

“Hey! You’re cheating!” She yells

“What do you mean cheating?”

“I mean now you’re gonna get more bites than I do! That’s no fair!”

“Okay, well I’ve taken three bites, so you take three bites then we’re on even ground.”

Once Clarke has taken her three free bites, Bellamy races back in for a huge forkful. That starts a race to see who can eat the most cheesecake, which ends with no winner and both of them regretting their decision.

“It is too late to eat that much cheesecake that fast.” Clarke says, leaning back in her chair and folding her hands over her stomach.

“You’re telling me,” Bellamy says, placing his head in his hands.

“Well we can’t go to sleep now, what shall we do?”

“We can go upstairs and work off this cake?” Bellamy winks.

“Oh my God I couldn’t be in less of a sexy mood right now, but you’re adorable.”

“Well how about we watch a movie then, your choice, everything’s in the glass case under the TV in that room.” Bellamy points behind him.

Clarke goes into the TV room and searches through the collection of DVDs. She finally decides on the Avengers. She throws it in the Playstation and turns it on.

“Wow, I didn’t take you to be a superhero fan!”

“Fuck Bell, who isn’t?” And Bellamy couldn’t help but agree.

The two sit on the couch as close as two people can get without being on top of each other, and peacefully fall asleep halfway through the movie with Clarke’s head on Bellamy’s shoulder and Bellamy’s head on top of Clarke’s.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was also pretty dialoguey. Please tell me if you like the dialogue or if I should tone it down a little in the future. I'll probably introduce a few new characters in chapter 3!


	3. chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clarke meets up with Jasper, Monty, and Wick, as well as someone she really didn't want to run into.

Clarke wakes up with her head in Bellamy’s lap to the sound of someone moving around in the kitchen. She pushes herself up to a seated position and peeks around the corner to see who it could be. She’s not surprised when she sees a random guy she’s never met before. She looks down at herself debating whether or not she’s decent enough to go out and introduce herself. She’s covered enough, but Bellamy’s briefs are really tight on her ass, and she isn’t wearing a bra. She decides it’s good enough and gets up to walk into the kitchen, pecking Bellamy’s cute sleepy face on the cheek first. 

“Hey,” Clarke says to him quietly.

“Oh hi sugar, whose catch are you?” The guy says, looking her up and down but then casting his focus to her breasts. Clarke wrinkles her nose at the sexist term, but shakes it off and decides it’s not worth making a fuss about. She folds her arms over her chest.

“Bellamy.” 

“Nice, it’s about time that one got some action. You want something to eat gorgeous? We haven’t got much in here but we’ve got some bread. You could make toast or whatever. We might have some eggs.”

“Yeah toast is fine,” The guy grabs a loaf from the cupboard and throws two pieces of bread in the toaster.

Clarke goes upstairs to Bellamy’s room and throws on another pair of his sweatpants, thinking jeans most definitely will not fit her ass right. She manages to get her bra on without taking off her shirt. She goes into his bathroom, combs through her hair, and goes back downstairs. Her toast pops almost immediately as she enters the room, and the guy sticks it on a plate for her. She’s surprised that Bellamy has managed to stay asleep with all the noise in the kitchen. She eats her toast with peanut butter, sitting awkwardly across the table from Bellamy’s roommate. She lets the hope for Bellamy to wake up take over her mind.

“So how’d Bellamy come across a beauty like you?” The roommate asks.

“We met at the Starbucks, he wrote his phone number on my cup.”

“Well thank God he’s getting out there. I can’t remember the last time he had a girl here. Used to be such a ladies’ man, no idea what happened to that guy. I’m John by the way.”

“Clarke.”

“Like Superman, nice.” Clarke rolls her eyes and averts all of her focus back to her toast. She really can’t be bothered talking to this fuckboy any longer.

As she takes the last bite of her toast she’s elated to hear a borderline sexual groan come from the TV room. She leaves the kitchen to meet him as he wakes up.

“Good morning sleepyhead.” She says as she enters the room. His hair is sticking up in every direction, and she doesn’t know how much of that is her fault and how much of it is just from the way he slept.

“Good morning Princess.” He grabs her head and kisses her gently on the forehead, “I assume you want me to take you home?”

“Yes please, that would be nice. Your roommate is creeping me the fuck out.”

“Yeah, he has that effect on people. Just let me wake up a little and I’ll have you right over there.” Bellamy stretches again, making more sexual groans. She worries what the guy in the kitchen might think. Bellamy gets up off the couch and takes Clarke up to his room with him, stopping in the kitchen to grab a banana off the counter first. All he’s wearing is his boxers so he throws on some jeans and a t-shirt, does a quick comb through to eliminate the sex hair, and brushes his teeth. She can tell that he definitely did not get very much sleep, as everything he does seems to take excessively more effort than it should. He yawns every couple minutes, and there are visible purple circles under his eyes.

“You didn’t sleep well, did you?” Clarke asks.

“Not at all, but you’re a very cute sleeper. You actually snore quite loudly, which I did not expect. Still adorable nevertheless.”

She blushes. He does one last rake through his hair with his fingers and grabs Clarke’s hand. She tries her best to ignore the hair-greasiness, but fails and un-laces her fingers from his.

“Alright Princess, let’s head out.” Clarke notices her dress on the floor in the corner of the room, but doesn’t bother grabbing it on the way out. She figures she’ll be back to his place soon enough.

Bellamy leans over for a toothpaste-flavoured kiss on the mouth when they arrive back at her residence, but he doesn’t escort her out of the car like he usually does. She doesn’t mind though, she knows he’s tired and she knows he looks like he just woke up, so she’s even kind of glad he decided to stay in the car. She pads her way up to her dorm carrying her shoes, and wakes Raven up as she enters. Surprisingly, Raven perks right up and energetically asks: “So how was it!?”

“Well we didn’t fuck, but damn girl is he a good kisser! He’s not as handsy as I’d like though, he liked to move his lips around when I just wanted them on my mouth. He’ll learn though, I’ll teach him.”

“Well mouthy isn’t that bad, but I do agree I like the hands. You didn’t fuck but did you at least see his dick? Like how long we talking? He looks like he’s an eight inches guy, maybe seven, but something longer than average.”

“Hey, he’s mine, stop daydreaming about his dick. And anyway, we both kept our underwear on. Actually wait.” Clarke peeks into the sweatpants that she’s wearing to see not her own underwear, but Bellamy’s briefs. “Yeah I changed into a pair of his underwear, but not while he was in the room.”

“Kinky?” Raven asks, making a face.

“Nah, just practical. I didn’t want to throw on pants but I couldn’t sit around in his living room wearing lingerie. He has roommates. Pretty creepy ones at that.”

“Okay whatever, you’re weird as fuck and I don’t want to dig anymore. You up for lunch today with the guys?”

“Usual place?”

“Where else would we go?”

“Sure, I’m in.”

Clarke takes a shower, puts on some of her own clothes, brushes her hair and does her make-up, and by then it’s time for them to leave. They arrive at their usual lunch spot, ‘Sandwich Sunday’, and Monty, Jasper, and Wick are already sitting at their regular table (in the corner by the window of course, because of Clarke). It’s another one of Clarke’s idiosyncrasies that she refuses to eat at Sandwich Sunday on any other day than Sunday. She can’t be the only one though, because Sunday is their busiest day. 

“Hey there beautiful,” Wick says to Raven as she comes in and sits beside him.

“Hey there handsome.” She says, pressing a light kiss to his lips.

The other three of them make a fake gagging action, a habit they do whenever they so much as kiss each other on the cheek. Clarke sits at the end of the table because she’s fifth wheeling, and their regular lunch arrives almost immediately.

“You ordered for us?” Clarke asks.

“You order the same thing literally every time, might as well save 15 minutes right?” Monty says.

They all eat their meals interspersed with random small talk, but all attention turns to Clarke when they notice she’s tapping the handle of her fork on the table. Jasper reaches over to flatten the fork onto her napkin, and everyone glares at her.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I’ve just been doing some thinking.”

“Raven!” Monty starts, “You know we told her not to let her think!” everyone at the table laughs quietly, but quickly direct their attention back to Clarke.

“Okay, so you guys all remember Octavia Blake right? And how I was so hot on her in first year,” Everyone sort of nods in agreement, “And you know how I’ve been dating this guy Bellamy, right?” They nod again, “Yeah well Octavia is Bellamy’s younger sister.” Jasper and Monty gasp, but Wick furrows his brow.

“I’m not seeing the problem here,” He says.

“Okay, what would Bellamy think if he finds out that his little sister was the one who made me realise that I’m bi? Don’t you think that would weird him out a little bit?”

“Hmm, I mean it’s a pretty weird coincidence, but I don’t think it would freak him out too much.” He continues.

“Sorry, you don’t think a guy would be freaked out to find out that his girlfriend used to be hot on his sister? Used to stare lustfully at her across the lecture hall and daydream about stripping off her clothes? Used to make out with her pillow in the middle of the night cuz she was dreaming about her? Let me tell you, Clarke was obsessed with this girl, and that’s weird.” Raven explains.

“Thanks Raven, that made me feel a lot better. All of a sudden it’s a lot easier to come to terms with this. In fact I’m gonna call up Bellamy right now and quote what you just said word-for-word.” Raven scoffs and rolls her eyes.

“Well does he even know that you’re bi yet?” Jasper asks, trying to cool down the sudden heat of the conversation.

“No, he doesn’t, we’ve only really gone on one and a half dates, I’m not just gonna blurt it out. ‘oh hey, Bell, by the way, did you know that I like girls too?’”

“Okay, obviously, but you should still probably tell him. I mean what if he finds out from someone that isn’t you? Wouldn’t you think you didn’t trust him enough to tell him yourself?” Jasper asks.

“Well yeah, and I plan to, I just want to make sure that it’s going somewhere first.”

“Do you think that telling him will scare him away?” Monty asks.

“Well I guess I see what you’re saying. Like if I were to pop it and it scared him away then he isn’t really good boyfriend material anyway, I don’t know, I guess I just like to warm up to people before I come out to them?” They all nod again, making faces to show that they understand.

“Okay, let’s change the subject a little. I wanna talk about how this girl has only been on one and a half dates with this guy and there are already two of his shirts, two pairs of his pants, and a pair of his underwear in my dorm right now!” Raven says excitedly.

“Clarke,” Wick starts, “Why are you stealing his clothes? Us guys don’t like that. Nothing worse than running out of shirts because somebody,” He pauses dramatically and glares at Raven, “Keeps taking all of them.”

“I only have like two! I swear! And I buy you new shirts all the time! I’m surprised you’re not swimming in them! I swear I bought you like four shirts for your birthday!”

“Literally every time we have sex you-”

“OKAY! Okay, alright, okay, let’s talk about something different now!” Monty blurts.

Jasper takes charge and brings up that the lacrosse team he’s on made it to the finals. Everybody is thankful that he actually had something on the top of his head, and they continue to discuss the details. The game is on Saturday, and they all tell him that they’ll be there.

The waitress comes around with the bill and everyone pools their money in the middle of the table. They get up and leave the restaurant in a cluster.

“You guys doing anything this afternoon?” Monty asks.

“Well Wick and I were gonna go down to the park, maybe go swimming in the lake, and I’m sure Clarke’s gonna be studying, so I think we’re busy.” Raven answers.

“Hey, don’t speak for me. But yeah, I’m gonna be studying today, sorry guys.” Clarke tends to do that a lot. She hates it when people speak for her, even when they’re right.

“Well I’m gonna be busy too,” Jasper starts, “My lacrosse team has a practice today,” Everyone pretends they don’t notice Jasper wink at Monty. They all know Monty and Jasper have a thing, but they’d feel weird to straight-out accuse them. They’re waiting for Jasper and Monty to come out on their own terms.

Everyone spreads out and goes their separate ways, Clarke climbing into her car and driving back to her dorm. When she gets back to the dorm she immediately changes into pajamas. She splays her collection of colourfully highlighted and sticky-noted biology books across her desk and starts working on her paper again. It’s the end of year paper, which she’s getting a head start on, but is still causing her a massive amount of stress. 

What’s even more stressful to her though is the existential dread she has that Bellamy will find out about the thing she had for Octavia. It’s confusing to Clarke why this is weighing so much in her mind though. For a guy she’s only been on one and a half dates with, she shouldn’t be so worried what he’s going to think of her. Of course she thinks he’s incredibly attractive, and he’s hilarious, and sweet, and an incredible kisser, but it wouldn’t be the end of the world if things didn’t work out between them. So why is she so worried? 

And then she somehow ends up away from her desk and on her back on her bed, staring at the ceiling. The fact that she’s so stressed about the Octavia thing is stressing her out, because her constant worry about it is keeping her from her studying and writing her biology paper. Clarke decides that she’s going to have to think long and hard through this Octavia thing before she can get back to studying. She begins going through scenarios in her head. Her brain works in interesting ways, because she’s very analytical and formulaic due to her science background, but she’s also very freethinking and creative because she’s an artist. She gets out a piece of paper and starts making a flowchart of sorts. The three top categories of her flowchart are ‘Clarke tells Bellamy’ ‘Bellamy finds out from another source’ and ‘Bellamy never finds out (highly unlikely)’. She continues to scribble on the paper in different coloured highlighters until Raven comes back from the park.

“Wow, look at you still studying away.” Raven starts coming closer to the desk, “Wait a second what the hell is that.” Raven picks up the paper off of Clarke’s desk, “Clarke, what the fuck, this is not healthy,” Raven begins to tear up the paper.

“Raven! No! What the fuck! I worked hard on that!”

“Clarke, this is creepy and obsessive as fuck, literally just go with the flow. You’re putting way too much thought into this, a scenario with a guy who you’ve only known for a week, which may not even work out. This is ridiculous Clarke, just slow the fuck down.”

“So I’m just supposed to not think about it? Raven this has been taking over my brain, I couldn’t study.”

“Clarke, right now you’re being really obsessive. You’ve gone on one and a half dates with this guy. Just stop thinking about it, please. How creeped out would Bellamy be if he knew you were obsessing about him like this?”

“Thanks Raven, I’ll try my best.” Clarke pops her other earbud into her ear, and puts her biology books back in front of her. She exhales slowly and starts back up on the sticky notes and the highlighters. Raven smiles proudly from the corner and begins to change out of the clothes that she got wet at the park. Clarke manages to actually focus on her studying for a while until the girls go to the mess hall for dinner. Clarke is thoroughly enjoying stir fry night, but quickly loses her appetite when a familiar face approaches them at their table.

“Hey Clarke! Long time no see! So I heard you’ve been dating my brother so I thought we’d better start getting to know each other a little better. I’m throwing a party for my twentieth birthday this month and I think it would be totally cool if you and your friend here could come!” Octavia hands them invitations.

“Oh sure Octavia, we’ll see if this works out with our schedule. Well it was nice talking to you.” Raven says, being much less than subtle about trying to push her away from the table. Clarke tries her best to smile at Octavia.

“Sure! I’ll see you girls around, hopefully at my party.” Octavia walks away bouncily, with a very confident sway in her hips. Clarke lets out a sigh of relief.

Raven looks Clarke in the eyes and keeps her voice low: “How do you feel?”

“Well she has a cute ass but I’m really not into her anymore, haven’t been for over a year. She’s too loud and perky, and she’s very vanilla if you know what I mean.”

“Yeah, I hear what you’re saying, there are probably 40 Octavias in this room right now. And what’s your read on the party?”

“I figure she’d tell Bell if we didn’t show up, so I should probably go. I don’t want him thinking that I have anything against his sister. I also don’t think she knows that I had a thing for her so it’s not like she’ll bring it up.”

“Okay, but you’ve gotta make sure you make a good impression, you don’t want her trashing you to Bellamy. You can’t be cold and disconnected like you usually are, because that raises eyebrows. Remember how you were when Bellamy gave you his number, minus the hitting-on of course. Definitely no hitting on her.”

“No, no, of course not. But I definitely think we need to go to this party. And who knows, it might be fun.”

“Whatever sugar, but if you get the hots for Queen Blake again you are in serious shit.”

They pass Octavia on the way out of the mess hall and tell her that they’ll be there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The guys probably won't play a massive role in this thing, I just wanted to bring them in because I love Jasper and Monty so much. I plan on making this Octavia thing a pretty central part of the plot though. Please comment and give me feedback!


	4. chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clarke goes over to Bellamy's for a movie night!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry there wasn't much Bellamy in the last chapter. The first half is pretty filler but in the second half there is plenty of Bell to go around!

The next time Bellamy calls, Clarke is out for lunch with Raven. Not at Sandwich Sunday though, because she can’t do that on Mondays, but at Quiznos. 

“Hey Ray, it’s Bell, do you mind if I take this?” Clarke says, waving around her vibrating phone.

“Go for it.” Raven says reluctantly. Clarke goes outside of the restaurant and accepts the call.

“So I hear you’re going to my sister’s birthday party!” 

“Yeah, I was super surprised yesterday when she came over to our table and invited us. I’m actually super pumped for it, I haven’t been out for so long.”

“Oh really? Because she told me that you kind of turned her away when she went over to talk to you.”

“Oh no that wasn’t me, that was Raven. I think Raven was actually in the middle of telling me something, Octavia just interrupted is all. But there are definitely no hard feelings here for your sister, don’t worry about it.”

“Well that’s definitely good to hear, because I don’t know how much further this could go if you didn’t like her. You wanna come over tonight and see a movie? I’ll make sure it’ll be a really cheesy rom-com so we can basically just make out.”

“I don’t know Bell, I’ve really gotta work on this biology paper, and I need to study for my anatomy final coming up. Though making out with a cheesy rom-com playing in the background sounds like a pretty high-class date.”

“Come on Princess, just this one night then I’ll leave you alone til Friday, I promise!”

“Okay, but I’ve got a 9:00AM class tomorrow, so you’d better have me home in time enough to get a full eight hours! Who am I kidding, just as long as you get me home before 2:00AM I’m sure we’ll be fine.”

“Dang, I was hoping you were gonna be able to stay the night.”

“I will definitely stay the night on Friday, I just really wanna be awake enough to absorb this lecture, we’re getting close to the end of the term so the lectures are starting to get real important.”

“Yeah I understand, don’t worry about it. But we’re definitely getting it on on Friday, no backing out.”

“Oh my God Bellamy, did you just say ‘getting it on’?”

“What would you rather I say? Would you rather just come out and say you’re fucking me Friday night? Because I can do that if you want. You’re fucking me Friday night.”

They share a quick laugh, but quickly get back to business. They decide Clarke will drive over herself and be there by 8:00. Clarke hangs up first and shoves her phone in her pocket, she goes back into the Quiznos and back to her seat in the corner by the window.

“What’s the deal?” Raven asks as Clarke sits down.

“I’m going over tonight at eight for a movie.”

“Oh my God is he stealing you from me? You’ve seen him literally every day since Thursday! Scratch that, every day for the past week and a half because you were going to his Starbucks without telling me.”

“It’s just tonight and then I’m not seeing him again until Friday. You’ve got all this next week to annoy me as much as you’d like.”

“Don’t you fucking dare turn into one of those bitches who’s always with her boyfriend and never with her best friend. I really don’t have enough time in my schedule to hate you Clarke.”

“But you do have enough time in your schedule to like me? I think it would take up more time to like me because you’d actually have to spend time with me. If you hated me you could be alone all the time.”

“You know what Clarke, it was an expression, and you can suck my ass.” Clarke’s eyes go big and her mouth opens wide. Raven starts laughing loudly and Clarke joins her.

“Good God Raven, I could never let Bellamy replace you. You mean way too much to me. And honestly my heart shatters at the thought that you’ll graduate like four fucking years before me.”

“Maybe I can convince the residence owners to let me live there even after I’ve graduated,” She laughs, “Who am I kidding our residence is a shithole. But I’ll visit. Hey maybe your new roommate will be hot and gay and you two can get it on.”

“I wish! I’ll miss you Raven, but you’re not leaving for another two years so let’s not get ahead of ourselves. It’s silly to worry about this so soon.”

“So do you think you’re hooking up with Blake tonight? I’m actually so curious about his dick.”

“Raven! Oh my goodness! But no, we’re not hooking up tonight, we’re going to on Friday though.”

“Wow, you’ve set a date and time, can I watch?” A horrified look crosses Clarke’s face, “Oh my God I’m kidding. Wick definitely would not approve.”

“And that’s the only thing holding you back?”

“Pretty much, yeah.” They laugh loudly, attracting stray glances from other customers in the Quiznos. Raven finishes the last bites of her sub and they move out.

On their way back to the dorm, they decide they’ll go out to the mall after Clarke’s class to shop for dresses for Octavia’s party. Even though the party isn’t for a couple weeks, Raven knows that Clarke likes to be prepared and Raven really loves any excuse to go shopping.

The girls go back to their dorm and are there by 1:00. Clarke, again, takes out her violently vibrantly highlighted and sticky-noted books, managing actually to focus for a bit. She really does look truly studious sitting there, but she would never look like she does outside of her own dorm. She has her hair tucked back in a low, messy bun, with strands at the front that don’t quite make it in and are pushed behind her ear. She has reading glasses that she usually gets by without, but using them makes it so reading needs just slightly less effort. She has a pencil tucked behind her ear in an almost cartoonish way, and she bites her bottom lip as she thinks. If you were to think of a stereotypical nerd in any form of media, it would be Clarke in this moment. 

But she’s so worried about her image. She likes to try just hard enough to make it still look like she’s not trying. She could never go out looking like she does now, but unless she was going out for something special, never would she spend too much time on her hair and make-up. She puts so much effort into looking average, because no one else wants to look average. Though she would never admit it, Clarke really wants to be original and ironic, but the pursuit of originality and irony is so unoriginal and unironic. Some would say she has a superiority complex, some would say she’s a ‘special snowflake’, but really she’s just stubborn, and she’s just Clarke.

Clarke puts away her books and heads to class. She sits half-engaged through her lecture, absentmindedly nibbling on her pencil. She types out as much as she can in her notes, but leaves what she misses to the responsibility of the tape recorder: to be interpreted later. She meets up with Raven back at the dorm as soon as her class is finished.

“You ready to get your shop on?” She asks.

“Ready as I’ll ever be.” Because she pretends not to like shopping because the whole valley girl deal is typical. Raven knows Clarke though, and can easily see through it.

They go to a strip-mall on the outskirts of town. There, there are a numerous amount of shops, all with names no one would recognise, because none of them are chains. Whenever Clarke and Raven go shopping though, they go to this strip-mall, because although the stores aren’t well-known, their styles are cute and the prices are low. 

“Do you know how formal this party is going to be?” Clarke asks Raven before they pick their first store.

“I’d imagine it’s semi-formal? Like not floor-length gowns, but definitely not a dress you’d wear on the regular. I’m thinking probably something short and tight, but still relatively classy. I imagine Octavia will be wearing something that fits that mold, minus the classy.”

“Hey, no slut-shaming.” If there’s one thing that Clarke is completely and utterly passionate about it’s feminism. Although she’s not a flawless feminist, and she often lets things slip that she’s not proud of, she really does try her best.

The two girls wander into shop after shop, Raven is the first to find her dress. Its a pale blue dress that really brings out the colour of her tan skin. It has a sweetheart neck, and an empire waistline, skirt flowing down to just above her knees. The girls continue to shop without any real success for Clarke. Just as they’re about to leave and give up Raven spots a dress in the window of a small shop tucked remotely into the corner of the mall, almost hard to find.

“Clarke, look at that! I can already tell that it’s gonna make you hot as fuck.”

“I’m already hot as fuck Raven,” Clarke jokes, “But really? You like that?”

Raven begs and begs Clarke to try it on, but to no avail. Eventually, Raven succumbs to making Clarke a bet, something that Clarke is never able to pass up. She bets Clarke ten dollars that she will fall in love with the dress, which gets Clarke more than excited to try it on.

With that the two walk into the shop and pick up a dress in Clarke’s size. She goes into a changeroom and slides into the dress. Raven was right. Immediately Clarke is stunned by the dress, taken aback by how beautifully perfect it is. The way the shape of the V neckline pushes her breasts so they look perfectly perky, the way the bodice is tight to make her waist look thin and shapely, but then the skirt plumes out with layers of fabric to make her hips look rounder, the way the pastel pink reflects onto her face to make her look significantly less pale and pasty white. Is there a word for being sexually attracted to yourself? By any stretch, Clarke know’s she’s gonna have to give Raven ten dollars. She exits the changing room, keeping a look on her face of slight distaste to throw Raven for a loop.

“Holy fuck girl, get that look off your face you look like a fucking goddess.”

“I know,” A wide, somewhat menacing grin crosses Clarke’s face. She begins to twirl, the dress spreading out to show the layers of fabric. She giggles obnoxiously as the twirling stops, and flattens the dress onto her legs. She changes back into her regular clothes, pays for her dress, and gives Raven her ten dollars. They go back to the mess hall for dinner, then Clarke leaves for Bellamy’s house.

“Hey there Princess,” Bellamy said, smiling wide as he opens the door to Clarke. He cups her face in his hand and brings her lips gently to his. He wraps his hand around her waist and leads her to the TV room. He pops the movie into the DVD player and sits beside her on the couch with his hand on her knee.

“Are we watching the fucking Titanic?” Clarke asks.

“Is that a problem?”

“We are going to be doing a lot of making out Blake.”

“And that was the inspiration my Princess.”

Clarke turns her waist, draping one hand across Bellamy’s lap and placing the other behind his neck. She doesn’t so much kiss him as she places her mouth over his and breathes his air. There’s no real movement, just two open mouths stacked against each other and breathing each other in. Clarke absorbs Bellamy’s taste and scent, obviously Bellamy brushed his teeth before she came, as she did too, and he smells not like she expected him too. While she expected him to smell like a douchey body spray, he instead smells classy like an expensive cologne. 

She decides that she’s taken him in enough and slides her tongue into his mouth. She feels his mouth twist into a smile as she flicks her tongue across the front and back of his front teeth. She really forgets that the movie is even playing, she is far too preoccupied with Bellamy’s mouth. She drags the bottom of her tongue back and forth against his bottom teeth, discovering that they’re jagged and crooked, overlapping in places and gapping in others. She assumed that since his top teeth are so straight that he had braces as a child, but that seems not to be the case. 

Then he takes a turn with his tongue, shoving hers without much effort back into her own mouth. She twists in one quick movement so she’s kneeling over his lap. She stands up on her knees so he has to tilt his head upwards to keep his lips on hers. He puts his hands on the back of her legs and slides them up to her ass. She giggles and slides her hands down to the hem of his shirt, tugging it slowly. Instead of taking it off of him though, she just slides her hands underneath it and slides her hands up the muscles of his back. Bellamy slides his hands upward some more and tugs the hem of Clarke’s shirt out of her jeans.

“There is no way you’re undressing me in the living room.” She says into his mouth.

“Shall we take this upstairs then?”

“I told you, we’re not fucking until Friday. I don’t want to end up sleeping here.”

“Well then you’re getting me all worked up for nothing Princess,” He looks down at his pants, Clarke can tell he’s slightly embarrassed, “Let’s slow it down a little please.”

“Sure, sure. Let’s talk.”

Bellamy reaches over for the DVD player remote and flicks off the TV. Neither of them were watching the movie anyway, and it will be easier for them to chat if it’s quiet.

“What about, Princess?” He asks.

“Well I don’t really know you that much. Like we’ve talked small on our dates, but that was just useless trivial stuff. I want to know who Bellamy Blake really is.”

“Alright, but that means I get to know Clarke Griffin too.”

“Which was my plan all along. You can start though.”

“Alright, well I was born in Tennessee, and I have a younger sister, Octavia. After I was born, the doctors told my mom that she shouldn’t have a second kid, because she was dangerously close to dying when she gave birth to me. Whether by accident or on purpose, she got pregnant again three years later, and even though the doctors told her she should, she just couldn’t bring herself to get an abortion. I don’t remember much about my mom’s pregnancy, because I was very young, but I do remember my dad being in a really uneasy and unpleasant mood all the time. My mom had a scheduled C-section, because it was critically unsafe for her to give birth naturally, but she went into labour two weeks early when she was the only one home. She tried to get to the phone to call 911, but the pain from the contractions was too much and she actually passed out on the kitchen floor. My Dad got home, and she was on the floor sweating and writhing in pain, still unconscious. My dad called an ambulance, and the paramedics got to the house just in time to help deliver the baby right on the floor of our home. Octavia was delivered, safe and healthy, but my mom was in critical condition. She passed away in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. I really don’t know where I was when all of this was happening, but I do remember that I didn’t see my mom at all on the day she passed.” Bellamy pauses for a second, tears brimming in his eyes, which he wipes away quickly. It’s then that Clarke realises how deep in she really is with Bellamy. Before that, she thought he might just be a fling, someone she fucked a few times but then went their separate ways. She realises that Bellamy isn’t just the sarcastic, pretentious, flirty, cocky Starbucks guy she thought he was, but that he really is a sweet and caring guy, who really does have a heart. She reaches over to him and places her hand on his shoulder.

“Would you like me to keep going?” He asks.

“Only if you want to.”

“Okay, so after my mother passed, my father was pretty shaken up. He couldn’t bring himself to name the baby, and I’ll never understand why, so he let me name her. I have no idea how I knew about ancient history already back then, but I named her after Augustus Caesar’s little sister. My dad really did try his best at raising Octavia and I, but his mental health was not doing so well, and he quickly became a workaholic. We never really had our dad around, we were always being looked after by our nanny, Dara. By the time I was ten years old, my dad couldn’t really afford to keep Dara, so I was essentially Octavia’s dad from the time I was ten until the time I was 15. Once I was 15 and she was about 12 was when we started to become more brother and sister. I stopped having to look after her, we were more of a team. That’s why I’m so protective of Octavia, because I really did have to watch over her for a long time. My dad and I haven’t really talked for a while. Like I know he still loves us, but whenever I would try to talk to him he would get really defensive and angry with me. I also don’t have much money left from my parents for school, I just had a few thousand put away, so I really am fending for myself money-wise. The rent on this place is definitely a lot better than living on residence, but I’m up to my neck in student loans. I guess that’s really enough of me for now, why don’t we learn about Clarke.”

Clarke swallows, trying to gain her composure and get over the huge amount of devastating Blake history that was just laid in front of her. She starts: “Well, Clarke is an only child. And I’m gonna be honest with you, my life has been really easy up to this point. My mom is a highly respected doctor, and my dad is an architect. They weren’t around that much when I was little, because their jobs are quite involved, so I would spend a lot of time at my friend Wells’ house. My parents would pay Wells’ parents to have me over and let me play with their son, so it kind of feels like I have two sets of parents. I don’t feel like I should talk about myself that much, because really I am totally privileged and actually pretty spoiled. You really don’t want to hear about my life.”

“Of course I want to hear about your life!” He places his hand on her knee and looks her in the eyes, “There must be something you want to tell me.”

Clarke feels her mouth go dry. She knows exactly what she should tell him in this moment, but she doesn’t know if she really wants to. And of course she’d never tell him the Octavia part, but she thinks that since their relationship has taken a deep and personal turn, just within the last ten minutes, that he should at least know her sexuality.

“Actually Bellamy, there is something I probably should tell you. I didn’t want to tell you until I knew this was going somewhere, but I guess I kind of know it is now. So I’ll just come out and say it then. Bellamy; I’m bisexual.”

He flinches, but recuperates quickly: “Wow, it actually feels so good to hear you say that. I really did just pour my heart out for you, and I was worried that since you weren’t going that deep that you didn’t trust me. I mean, I haven’t talked to anyone about my family in so long. And I think I even cried in front of you. Oh goodness Clarke, thank you.” He grabs her face and brings her lips to his. They smile into each other’s mouths for a few seconds, then Clarke pulls back. She beams at Bellamy again, then nestles her head into the crook of his neck. He wraps his arms around her shoulder and rubs it in a small circular pattern.

After a few seconds of nestling in, she places her hand flat on his lightly muscled chest, and turns her head up to look at him. Somehow, he doesn’t notice immediately, so she uses the time to study his face. He’s got a really hard jawline, one that sticks out quite noticeably from his neck as it bends toward his ear. He’s also got a nice, high and rugged cheekbone. His face is thin and narrow so that bones like those are very defined, but not thin enough that he looks sickly. She watches his long dark eyelashes flutter as he blinks. He finally notices her staring and turns his head to meet her eyes.

“What you looking at?” He asks.

“You’re so beautiful.” 

“No, you are.” He kisses her nose and wraps her tightly in his arms. Even though she vowed she wouldn’t stay the night, she falls asleep there with her arms wrapped tightly around his waist, and her head resting gently and bobbing to the gentle rise and fall of his chest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been told my characters are OOC, so if anyone has some advice for me PLEASE help me out. Keep in mind though that this is an AU and the characters obviously won't be the exact same as they are in the show. I plan to flesh out the characters more and more, and more resemblances to the show will become noticeable.


	5. chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clarke and Raven go out for lunch with Octavia!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! If any of you want to message me on tumblr, my url is the same as it is on here (stephenrogers). I also have a The 100 sideblog called angstybellarke. I'd love to chat with you guys!

She wakes up to the alarm of the phone in her pocket and immediately swears at herself. She takes out her phone and turns off the alarm. 8:15. She has 30 minutes to get ready and out of Bellamy’s house, because it will take her at least 15 to get to the campus. She stirs Bellamy awake. He grumbles incoherently and opens his eyes slowly while she continuously shakes him.

“What’s the deal?” He groans, eyes still most of the way shut.

“I need to go! It’s quarter after eight! I’ve gotta be out of here in half an hour!”

“You know your way around, get ready yourself, I’m going back to sleep.” He’s already starting nestling back into the couch.

“You’re an ass.” She gets up and starts storming around the house, first grabbing an apple off the kitchen counter and taking a huge bite out of it on the way up the stairs to Bellamy’s room. She goes into the bathroom and combs through her hair, although combs for short hair and combs for long hair are incredibly different. After a minute or two of trying to wrench knots out of her hair with the insufficient comb, she gives up. She hopes he doesn’t mind that she uses his toothbrush. He shouldn’t though, they’ve kissed enough times that he shouldn’t be worried about it. She rinses her face in the sink, and uses his deodorant, not concerned about smelling like a man, because who is she trying to impress? 

She leaves the house, not worrying about kissing Bellamy goodbye because he was an ass earlier and she’s in a rush. She makes it to her class at exactly 9:01 and sits down in her regular spot. The professor hasn’t started his lecture yet, and for that she is very thankful. She definitely would not have made it to class if she’d have had sex with him, because she definitely would have had to have a shower. After class she goes back to her room and showers. She has another class at 11:00, so she has about 15 minutes to clean herself up and get back out of the dorm. She somehow manages to get to her class in time, with wet hair nevertheless. She meets up with Raven after class for lunch.

“So how was the movie?” Raven asks.

“He picked the Titanic, so we watched about five seconds of it before giving up and making out.”

“I noticed you didn’t show up at the dorm last night. Did you end up fucking after all?”

“Nah, I just fell asleep in his arms on the couch. I wasn’t planning on it, things were just getting really sweet and romantic and we dozed off.”

“What do you mean by sweet and romantic?”

“Well we were making out a lot, but I told him that I didn’t want to have sex, so we toned it down. Then we got talking and it got really deep and personal.”

“Did you come out?”

“Yeah. I actually was surprised with the reaction too. He didn’t seem to care about the sexuality part, he was just so happy that I was opening up to him because he opened up to me so much.”

“What kind of opened up?”

“Tragic childhood backstory type thing. I don’t want to go into detail because it’s kind of personal.”

“How tragic?”

“It’s pretty fucking tragic. Mom died in childbirth dad suffers from mental illness type tragic. And all this time I wondered why he seemed so fake and cocky. Must be a coping thing.”

Raven nods, not sure how to respond to the heart-wrenching details of the Blakes’ past. She bows her head and dives into her food, no longer acknowledging Clarke.

“You’re thinking.” Clarke states after a minute or two.

“Yeah, just about my mom.”

Raven’s past was pretty brutal too. She was born from a teen mom, father not in the picture, who thought she could look after her alone. Her early childhood was full of alcohol-driven neglect and insufficient parental support and education. She only remembers her mom a bit, child services took her when she was six years old. Her mom died from an impaired driving accident a few years later, miraculously being the only casualty in the three-car-seven-person crash.

“Oh shit, I’m sorry I brought it up.”

“No, no, don’t worry about it. I kind of forced it out of you. You told me you didn’t want to expand and I told you to do just that. No one’s fault but my own.” Raven looks back down at her food and starts poking it with her fork. Clarke slides out of her booth and into Raven’s, wrapping her arms tightly around her friend.

“Thanks Clarke.” She says, following with a light hum and placing her head on top of her friend’s.

 

Clarke goes to her 2:00 class and then hits the Starbucks, something she hasn’t done in a while. She sees Bellamy’s eyes light up immediately as they meet hers, but the line is interfering with their connection. He serves each customer in front of her, but doesn’t really offer them much of his concentration. He continues to eye Clarke, paying just enough attention to the customers to not completely mess up their orders. Bellamy greets Clarke at the counter with a sigh of relief, and a hard kiss on the mouth across the counter.

“Won’t you get more tips if they think you’re single?” She asks, flicking her eyes to the swarm of young women in line behind her.

“Technically you’re right, but no amount of tips is as good as the taste of your soft and artificially-strawberry-flavoured lips.” Clarke reaches her hand up to her mouth and touches her bottom lip, she had forgotten that she was wearing lip-gloss in the first place.

“So what will it be my beautiful Princess?”

“Remember that first time I actually flirted back with you. The time I gave you creative freedom with my drink?” He nods in agreement, “Give me that.”

“Ah, you were a fan of the infamous BlakeShake?” Clarke giggles, though she can tell her order is taking too long and that the people behind her are becoming impatient. She refuses to let Bellamy pay for her drink, and slides to the end of the counter to retrieve it.

She sips on her drink in her seat in the corner by the window, exchanging glances with Bellamy every time he’s not preoccupied. And even though she’s distracted by the gorgeous freckled-face of the barista, she finally manages to finish off a rough draft of her paper, before it was even assigned. She looks up from her laptop to see that Bellamy doesn’t have any customers. She packs away her things and waltzes up to the counter. 

“Hey there Princess, how can I help you?”

“I figured that since we’re actually dating now you can tell me what’s in this cup.” She says, holding his concoction up to him.

“Blake family secret, you’ll have to marry me to find out.” Clarke’s heart flutters.

“Did you just propose to me?”

“Well that wasn’t the intention, but you can take it that way if you’d like.”

“I’m a little busy with school right now Blake, don’t really have time to plan a wedding. Maybe some other time though, okay sugar?”

“Okay,” He mumbles into her mouth. She’d barely noticed how close he’d gotten before he was already there. They’re caught in the moment for a second, but then Clarke pulls back.

“You probably shouldn’t be doing this at work.”

“You’re probably right, and I probably don’t care.” He plants another lazy kiss on the side of her mouth, and she pushes him back.

“You can’t afford to get fired Bell, I should go.” He grabs her hand and pushes a hard kiss into it’s back. She leaves the Starbucks, stomach doing somersaults. She really is uncomfortable with PDA.

She studies her anatomy book back at her dorm until Raven gets back. She walks in with a huge and stupid smile on her face.

“What’s the deal?” Clarke asks.

“Wick invited me to go up to his family’s beach house with him over the summer! It’ll be just the two of us! Fuck Clarke, it’ll be like we’re living together for three months!” She squeals and jumps up and down a little, possibly the most excitement Clarke’s ever seen Raven show, then pauses, “Imagine all the fucking BEACH SEX we could have!”

“I’m really happy for you Raven! Things between you two seem to be going by really fast! And I don’t know if you’ve ever had beach sex before, by trust me it will take you three weeks to get all the sand out of you. Definitely a zero-out-of-ten experience.” Raven’s nose scrunches up and she pretends to gag, “How long have you been together?”

She hums for a second, then says: “Probably about a year and a half now. I was never good with anniversaries or anything, but he probably has the date committed to memory. I remember out one year was in like October or so, so yeah, probably a year and a half, year and five months, around there.” Clarke giggles, amused by the stereotype that was just shattered in front of her face. She knows Raven isn’t good with dates though, she never remembers Clarke’s birthday.

The girls head down to the cafeteria for burgers, chicken burgers, and veggie burgers night. Clarke debates a veggie burger, but ends up picking chicken. She absolutely slathers it with hot sauce, her tastebuds being absolutely fried off by eating anything spicy she could get her hands on for the past ten years. Again, their conversation is effectively ruined by an all-too-familiar ass landing on their table.

“Clarke!” She pipes, “I hear you and Bellamy are getting SUPER serious! That’s so exciting, I’m so excited! I’m sure you’ll be a TERRIFIC sister-in-law.”

“Octavia, while I do agree that this relationship is moving rather quickly, by no stretch are we super serious. We’ve known each other for a week.” Clarke is surprised that she manages to keep her pulse regular around the girl that she pined after for five months in first year, especially with her ass so close to her face.

“I know, I know, I’m just being silly and over-excited as usual. Well I totally think that since you and my brother are a thing now that we should get to know each other better! My party isn’t for another couple weeks, so we should probably definitely go to lunch this week!” Raven sits awkwardly across the table from Clarke, the two exchanging SOS eyes. Clarke decides that if she’s going down, Raven is coming down with her.

“That sounds awesome,” Clarke starts, “As long as Raven can tag along. The two of us are kind of a package deal, if you get to know me you get to know her too.”

They all discuss their schedules, and decide on 12:30 on Thursday. Octavia proposes Chinese, and Raven and Clarke can’t be bothered to dispute it. Octavia skips off, still swaying her ass and causing her skirt to swish around like a curtain over an open window.

“Literally fuck you Clarke Griffin. Literally fuck you.” Her face is deadpanned, but she says it with a hint of sarcasm in her voice.

“Come on Raven, she’s not that bad,” The girls laugh loudly, both knowing it’s not true, “Okay, but I’m forreal, I definitely think we should get to know her.”

“I think YOU should get to know her. You’re the one fucking her brother, not me. I want to be no part of this.”

“Well it’s really too late to back out now, isn’t it.”

“Suck my ass Clarke.” Clarke can’t tell if Raven’s actually mad, or if she’s joking. 

They finish their burgers and go back to their dorm. They study until it’s time for bed and follow their regular schedule the next day. Clarke doesn’t visit Starbucks, because she was embarrassed last time she went. 

 

And then it’s Thursday, which seemed to have come in the blink of an eye. Raven and Clarke walk into Lee’s, surprised to see that Octavia has already claimed them a table. It's not in the corner by the window, but Clarke tries not to let it get to her. They sit down with her, Clarke sitting at the side of the table across from Octavia, and Raven at one of the sides adjacent.

“Hey girlies! The server already came through so I just asked for three waters, I hope that’s okay.”

“Yeah, thanks Octavia, that’s great.”

“Please, call me O, everyone does it, Octavia is such a mouthful. Bellamy named me you know? What the fuck was he thinking?” She takes a sip of her water, “So I hope you don’t mind Raven, but a lot of the conversation today is going to be about Bellamy. Clarke and I have gotta go over his ins and outs if this is gonna get real.”

“Yeah, don’t worry, just pretend I’m not even here.” Raven lets out a long sigh, flying under Octavia’s radar, but baiting eyes from Clarke telling her to tone it down. Raven’s mouth flattens into a line and she glares into space.

The waitress comes around and takes their order, then Octavia gets straight to business, leaning forward and boring laser eyes into Clarke, ready to interrogate.

“So Bell told me that your first date was kind of a flop. He had actually told me earlier that day how excited he was to take you out to Murphy’s, so I was pretty heartbroken when he told me that the date went to shit.”

“Yeah, I mean the date really didn’t go as planned, but we still had a pretty great time. It’s something we’ll probably be laughing about for a long time. And we did go back to Murphy’s the next day, their lasagna was fucking magical.”

“So you’re thinking this will be a long term thing?”

“I mean, I hope so. Like Bellamy and I seem to be getting along really well so far, it’s been quite easy for us to open up to each other, so yeah, I think this is probably going somewhere.”

“I’m sure he’ll be glad to hear that you said that. His last relationship was pretty shit, he got pretty invested in her pretty quickly, but she only really wanted him for a fling. Considering that, I’m quite surprised that he’s already taken his guard down around you. He’s had a really hard time warming up to people for a while. In fact he usually doesn't warm up to people much at all, he tends to keep his guard up and have trouble trusting people.” Clarke feels her stomach and hands get hot. She’s been stressed about keeping the relationship working from day one, so she’s glad that Bellamy is comfortable and at ease around her when he seems not to be for others.

Their spring rolls come to the table, along with a waitress who refills their already-full water glasses. Octavia dips a spring roll, bites it, and begins talking with a hand over her full mouth.

“Bell can’t shut up about you Clarke. Just yesterday he was telling me about how beautiful you were when you fell asleep in his arms.” Clarke starts to wonder how much Bellamy has told Octavia. They seem to be extremely close, even to a slightly weird extent, so she wonders what Octavia knows. 

“Yeah, I’m pretty lucky to have found him.” Clarke notices Raven’s eyes go wide, “What is it Ray?”

“Alright,” She says with a mouth full of spring roll, “If I hadn’t dragged you into that fucking Starbucks you never would’ve met him. I think I deserve both a thanks, and the right to say ‘I told you so’”

“Alright Raven, thank you for screeching in my ear until you dragged me by the ankles into that Starbucks. If it wasn’t for your torture I would never have met Bellamy. Also, I suppose you can say I told you so, because I truly am neck-deep in frappuccino at this point.” Raven nods in approval, and sweetly says: “I fucking told you so miss ‘I’m so original’ Clarke Griffin.”

“Ooh, has he made you the BlakeShake yet?” Octavia chimes.

“Yeah, what the fuck is in that thing?”

“It’s a Blake family secret, you’ll have to marry him to find out.” Clarke rolls her eyes.

“So is there anything I should know about Bellamy before we go on?”

“Well, if you’re ever in a rush in the morning you’re gonna have to probably set five or six alarms. He is impossible to wake up.”

“Yeah, I already figured that out actually. He left me to fend for myself in his house because he refused to get up.” Octavia laughs.

“That is definitely something Bellamy would do. He’s also very, very huggy. You probably already know that too. Literally if I ever visit with him he always gives me at least a couple long, tight, full bodied hugs.”

“Actually I haven’t noticed the hugging yet. I’ve noticed he likes to kiss a lot though. Might be the difference between sister and girlfriend. In the Starbucks on Tuesday he wouldn’t stop, it actually made me pretty uncomfortable.”

“Oh, are you not into PDA? Honestly I think when Bell gets into the moment, he forgets there are even other people around. There was this one girlfriend he had that he started taking off her clothes while I was on the other side of the room. I had to get up and leave.” She shudders and pretends to gag.

“Yeah, I guess I’ll have to talk to him about that. Especially about the Starbucks, because I know he can’t afford to lose his job.”

“Oh my God tell me about it, I’ve been working a night shift at the McDonald's downtown for as long as I can remember. Sweeping coke off the counter and heroin needles off the floor doesn’t even faze me anymore.”

Raven pipes in this time: “So my adoptive dad was a mechanic, right? So that’s why I’m getting really into engineering. Anyway, one time I was over at this guy’s house, fixing I don’t even remember what, and he snorted a line of cocaine right in front of my face. I just got up and left, no amount of pay is worth that.” Clarke makes a face, but Octavia sends a sympathetic glance. Their food comes to the table.

There’s not much talking from then-on-out, because they have to finish their meal fast enough for Clarke to make it to her 2:00 class in time.  
And then it’s Friday.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm hoping Raven's characterization was a little better in this chapter. I've been spending a lot of time researching my characters to make sure I do them justice. Bear in mind though this is an AU and characters will be a little different from the show.


	6. chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clarke and Bellamy have a nice night together :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry not sorry, this was definitely one of my favourite chapters to write.

Clarke wakes up excited. She’s been waiting for this ever since the first date. She gets out of bed goes to the washroom.

“FUCK!” She yells.

Raven wakes up slowly.

“What is it?” Raven asks, barely loud enough for Clarke to hear.

Clarke looks down at the red stain on her underwear.

“Guess who’s not getting laid today.” She yells back at Raven.

“Oh shit, really? So what are you gonna do then?”

“I guess I’ll just have to call and tell him we’ll need to postpone. Damn it we’re probably not gonna get another chance until next Friday. Fuck these 9:00 AM classes.” Clarke gets in the shower and pounds her fist on the wall. Raven is outside fiddling with Clarke’s phone.

“Your app says that you’re not due for another four or five days, that’s bullshit. That is some tough luck.”

“I don’t think it’s luck, my uterus just doesn’t want me to get fucked, that’s what this is.” The girls are basically screaming at each other now to get over the sound of the shower. They’re sure all of the girls in the neighbouring dorms are sympathising with her right now. Or angry at them for waking them up at the ungodly hour that is 8:15AM. Clarke decides she’ll call Bellamy after her 9:00 class, definitely not wanting to wake him up by calling him before.

“Hey Princess, you as pumped for tonight as I am?” He says when he answers the phone. Her heart immediately sinks to the floor.

“About that..”

“Fuck, what is it?”

“Yeah, I got my period this morning.”

“Fucking hell. Well that sucks ass,” He pauses, “Well why don’t we go out to a movie or something then, is there anything playing right now that you want to see?”

“Why don’t we just watch something at your place again. I hate the movie theatre.”

“What the fuck? How could you possibly hate the movie theatre?”

“I mean I’ll go there if something is showing that I desperately want to see, but I prefer to be at home where there are cheaper snacks and the ability to pause the film if I have to pee. Plus I’m one of those people who asks a lot of questions when I watch movies, I like to talk about the things that are happening.”

“Well why don’t you come over tonight at 8:00, I’ll order take-out for us. I promise we’ll watch something better than the Titanic.”

“I’ll be there. And again, I’m so sorry that this threw a wrench in our plans, we can postpone this til next Friday, I promise.”

“Don’t worry about it, it’s not in your control, see you later my beautiful Princess.” Bellamy hangs up. Clarke is pleasantly surprised with how well that went. Oftentimes guys demand head on her period, so it’s very refreshing to actually be respected.

The rest of Clarke’s day goes by incredibly slowly. Instead of going out for coffee after her 2:00 lecture, she goes back to her dorm and falls asleep. She wakes up at 7:45, and calls Bellamy immediately.

“What is it Princess?” He answers.

“I fell asleep, I just woke up like a minute ago. I’m gonna be at your place 10-15 minutes late, I hope that’s okay.”

“Oh yeah, no worries sweetheart. See you soon.”

Clarke goes into her bathroom to wash her face. She brushes her teeth, reapplies deodorant, and strokes on a thin layer of mascara. She’s out of the dorm by 7:55, and to Bellamy’s by 8:15.

As soon as he opens the door she’s hit by a very strong smell of hot pepper. Curiosity takes over her mind while she distractedly kisses her boyfriend on the side of the mouth. He takes her by the hand and leads her to the kitchen, pulling out a chair for her to sit. Seeing the elegantly set table, Clarke knows that Bellamy did not get take-out. No matter how classy the place the take-out is from, a vase with flowers and a white tablecloth is never appropriate. He brings in two large bowls, and sets them at the two place settings.

“Grandma Blake’s infamous five-alarm jambalaya.” Clarke peers into the bowl in front of her, almost being turned on by the incredible smell.

“Bellamy this looks absolutely amazing! You really didn’t have to do this, and how did you know I like spicy food?”

“Octavia told me about how much hot sauce you put on your chicken burger. And honestly I’m kind of thankful you ran late, because this just finished cooking about two minutes ago.” Clarke smiles and dips her spoon into her bowl. She makes eye contact with Bellamy as she slides the first scoop into her mouth. His eyes fixate on hers, which roll back into her head in an overly dramatic way. She lets out a particularly sexual sounding moan, and immediately dips her spoon back in for another bite. Bellamy can’t help but let the corners of his mouth make their way toward his ears, making a dimple that Clarke had never seen before. She takes his hand across the table.

“I can’t believe you did this for me,” she starts, “This is actually one of the best things I’ve ever tasted.”

“I’m so happy you’re happy.” He says. He’s taken a few bites, and the heat is making it’s way through his mouth, causing him to sweat and his nose to run. He’s obviously far less tolerant to heat than she is. He’s pretty amazed at how resistant to it she is though, what he doesn’t know is that she’s won plenty of wing-eating contests.

She cleans out her bowl, and asks if there’s more. Bellamy goes back in the kitchen and tops her up, and she begins shoveling again.

“Save room for dessert, Princess. And don’t make yourself sick.”

“Fuck Bellamy, you made dessert too? You really have outdone yourself today, Blake.”

“Nonsense, a beautiful, perfect Princess like you deserves a million dinners and a trillion desserts. If anything, I’ve underdone myself. If anything you should be complaining about how dry and overcooked this shrimp is.” He prods at one of the shrimp in his bowl with his spoon, making a rather adorable disappointed face.

“Shut up, literally shut the fuck up. You know you did good, just bask in your glory. I just have to make sure you know that you’re stuck with me now. I could never leave a guy who can cook like this, especially since the last time I tried to cook, I burned everything. And yes, it was Kraft Dinner.”

He giggles lightly and grazes his lips on her hand, but she doesn’t even turn her eyes up to look at him. She concentrates on getting the last bites of shrimp and green pepper into her stomach. He finishes his first bowl just as she finishes her second, but he doesn’t worry about filling himself. He knows he can eat more leftovers later, right now he’s just worried about getting Clarke her dessert before she goes on a chocolate-hungry rampage.

“Grandma Blake’s infamous chocolate and strawberry tart.” He places a large tart in front of her, which is full of chocolate mousse and topped with a massive strawberry. Again, they lock eyes as Clarke puts a piece of tart in her mouth. She lets out a tremendous sigh and throws her entire head back, making Bellamy’s dimple show up yet again.

“How the fuck did you learn to cook like this?”

“O and I used to spend weekends at my Grandmother’s all the time. She had a book nearly a foot thick of all of her recipes. I went over to O’s flicked through that thing for hours last night trying to pick something that you’d like. Looks like I chose right. Well I guess Octavia chose right, she told me I should pick out something spicy.”

“You two couldn’t have chosen more right. I’ll have to thank Octavia next time I see her. Also, I’m gonna need to take a copy of these, although I can’t cook for shit.”

“Oh no you don’t Princess, Blake family secret, gotta marry me to have at Grandma’s recipe book.”

“Bellamy, I’ve already told you, I have a lot on my plate with school right now and I can’t afford to get married. I’m sorry, but you’ll just have to wait.”

“One day I’ll win you over Princess.”

“Oh you already have Bell, you most definitely already have.” She makes more eye contact with the mousse than with Bellamy as she says it. They finish their tarts, and Bellamy puts the dirty dishes in the sink.

“So you said you wanted to watch a movie, but I have a better idea.” Clarke raises a curious eyebrow while Bellamy slinks into a back room. He comes out wielding a Scrabble box. Clarke’s eyes light up.

“You may not know this about me Bellamy, but I am the word queen. I don’t know how much you’re gonna like this decision once we’re done.”

“Well word queen, meet the word king,” He pauses, thinking, “Well, if we’re both word royalty, why don’t we make things a little interesting,” Clarke’s eyebrows rise, always intrigued by bets, “Loser has to give the winner a kiss.” He smiles stupidly, forcing a laugh from Clarke.

“I don’t think I can do that Bell, the stakes are just too high! I think we’ll have to tone it down a little.” Bellamy grabs Clarke by her belt loops and pulls her into him. He presses a kiss to her mouth and sucks slightly on her bottom lip. She slides her hands into his hair, but pulls away quickly.

“Show me what you’ve got, word king.” She says, sliding open the scrabble box. They sit across from each other at the table and load their stands with letters. Clarke swears to herself, marvelling at the four I’s that she managed to draw. Knowing she can’t possibly make a word longer than two letters, she lets Bellamy go first. He places ANGRY for nine points. Clarke swears in her head again. Because Bellamy didn’t give her much to work off of, she places NICE off of Bellamy’s N for 6 points, which at least got rid of one of her I’s.

The puzzle spreads across the board quickly, Clarke winning thanks to her creation of the word QUIZ on a triple word space earning her 66 points. Bellamy manages to expand it to QUIZZED for 35 points, but the triple word score doesn’t count a second time. Clarke ends up winning, but only by 12 points.

“I let you win.” He says.

“Sure you did, I think you’re just too proud to admit that I’m the word queen.”

“More like word Princess.” He winks at her. He reaches across the table for her hand and brings her up to his bedroom. As soon as the door is closed she wraps her arms around his neck and presses a kiss to the place where his jawbone meets his ear, pushing him against the wall with her entire body. She tugs on the lobe with her teeth, and he chokes on a strangled moan. She continues with the earlobe until the noises stop.

She moves down his face to suck on the curve of his jaw, using her teeth and her tongue and her lips in attempt to hear the same noise that he made earlier. And she’s successful. He keeps his hands on her hips, brushing his thumb across a sliver of exposed skin with such a delicate touch that it sends shivers up her spine.

“Are you gonna give me a bruise Princess?” He asks, after she shows no sign of relenting with her work on his jawbone.

“I’m marking my territory.” She says with one last lick.

He takes her by the neck, using his thumb to guide her lips up to his. He nips and sucks on her bottom lip, thumb brushing the curve of her jaw causing her to hum into his mouth. She places both of her palms flat on his cheeks and traces the high, defined bone that sits there. She gasps for air, then opens his lips to slide her tongue in.

She does his bottom teeth again, which she developed an admiration for last time. She tries to memorise their angles, their gaps, their bumps and their divots. He sputters slightly, after being too reluctant to stop and breathe. She giggles into his mouth, and he tastes the sweet chocolate on her breath. And then he yawns.

“Somebody’s tired.” She murmurs.

“Just a little.” He sighs.

“Come here then.” She wraps her arm around his waist and pulls him into bed with her. She gets out of bed to use the washroom, grabbing what she needs out of her purse first, and joins Bellamy back under the covers. They turn to face each other, and interlace their legs, causing Clarke to discover that Bellamy stripped down to his boxers while she was gone. She runs the backs of her fingers down the firm packs of muscle that pattern his torso, and brings her lips to his collarbone. She peppers up and down it for a while, letting her fingers continue to explore the hills and valleys of Bellamy’s stomach. She goes to meet his lips, but she’s greeted instead with a quiet snore. She doesn’t know whether to be impressed or insulted by the fact that he managed to fall asleep so quickly.

She wakes up with Bellamy’s arm draped over her, his lips on her neck, and his morning wood on her ass. She manages to escape the weight of his dead arm and make her way to the bathroom. The cold water that buffets her face only manages to wake her up slightly, a mug of coffee will definitely be necessary in the near future. Instead of using Bellamy’s toothbrush again, she brought her own. A loud groan comes from outside the bathroom. She enters the bedroom to see Bellamy stretching with a flexed back and extended arms, covers kicked off. She crawls into bed beside him and offers him a lazy morning kiss.

“Can I take a shower?” She asks.

“Knock yourself out.” He half gets out before it’s stifled by a yawn.

Bellamy’s shower tap is difficult to operate. It takes Clarke a couple minutes to get the temperature right where she wants it. Her clothes fall to the floor and she steps into his shower, curious about what kind of products reside behind the curtain. She finds a bottle of Old Spice two-in-one shampoo and conditioner, and sniffs it. It’s a familiar smell, something that must have registered in her subconscious without her acknowledging it on Bellamy for herself. She lathers it in her hair and rinses it. A pair of hands find themselves on her hips, and she turns to come face-to-face with Bellamy’s muscular chest.

“I hope this is okay.” He says. Her eyes make their way down his body, coming to a halt at the area of question. She fails at hiding her smile.

“This is more than okay.” She says, still unable to separate her eyes from his package. He takes her chin between his finger and his thumb and directs her gaze upward.

“My eyes are up here, Princess.”

“And what if I don’t want to look at your eyes.” He casts his eyes downward, directly at her breasts. She feels her face go hot.

“It’s a little uncomfortable, isn’t it?”

“Fair enough, fair enough. But wow, I had no idea they came that long! What size are your feet?”

Bellamy lets out one loud laugh: “Well my feet are size 11 and a half, size 12 on a good day. And my penis, if my ruler doesn’t lie, is eight inches.”

This time Clarke lets out a single laugh: “This is the first time a guy has told me that and I actually believed them. You really are a sight to see Sir Bellamy Blake.”

“Why thank you Your Highness, I seem to have lucked out myself.” He arches his back to bring his lips down to hers. She clutches his bare ass, and squeezes it tightly. She imagines there have been lots of squats in his past. They don’t waste much time with that though, they clean up rather quickly so they can get downstairs and fuel themselves with caffeine.

Bellamy gets out a pan and throws together some chocolate chip pancakes, leaving Clarke to man the coffeemaker. They clean up the scrabble board, having forgotten that they didn’t put it away the night before. They sit across the table from each other, maintaining eye contact but barely speaking to each other at all.

“So I was looking for my black sweat pants the other day, and I couldn’t find them, so I started looking for my grey ones, and I also couldn’t find them. I had to wear my navy blue ones, the only pair that I had left. Do you have any explanation for this Clarke Griffin?”

“It looks like someone is stealing your clothes.” She states, matter-of-factly.

“And I wonder who that could be.”

“I’ll bring them next time we meet up, I promise. Can I keep your underwear though? They’re really comfy, I sleep in them sometimes.”

“Okay, you can keep one pair of my underwear. I also think you have some of my shirts. Clarke, we’ve known each other for just a week and a half, how do you already have so much of my clothes?”

“Well maybe if you don’t want me to take your clothes, you should stop giving them to me.”

“I have clearly not had enough coffee yet for this conversation.” Bellamy says, taking a sip from his mug.

“What time do you need to be out of here by?”

“Quarter to 12, shift starts at noon.”

“It’s only 10:30 now, so we’ve got about an hour on our hands.”

“What did you have in mind, Princess?”

“I was thinking maybe you could teach me how to play that guitar in your closet.” Bellamy’s face goes pink.

“When were you in my closet?”

“On our second first date you told me to go find some clothes in your room to throw on because you didn’t want me sitting around in your house in my underwear. I wasn’t sure where to look, but sure enough when I looked into your closet there it was.”

“I’m not very good.”

“I’m sure you’re good enough.”

“And I don’t sing.”

“I sing.”

“Then I guess I have no excuse, let’s go then.” Clarke drags Bellamy by the wrist up to his bedroom. She goes into his closet, and returns wielding a black acoustic guitar.

“What can you play?”

“Nothing before it’s tuned, I haven’t picked this guy up in a while.” He starts plucking on the strings and turning the knobs at the end. He said he wasn’t very good, but Clarke knows that if he can tune by ear he was lying. He starts strumming a tune that Clarke recognises, but can’t put her finger on. Once he ‘sings’ the first word Clarke is good to go.

“ _Come up to meet you, tell you I’m sorry, you don’t know how lovely you are,_ ” Bellamy beams wide when he hears Clarke’s voice, but doesn’t look away from his hands.

“ _I had to find you, tell you I need you, tell you I set you apart,_ ” She’s sitting beside him on the bed now, also watching his fingers as they slide from chord to chord. He was definitely lying when he said he wasn’t good. Or he was just being modest, but that’s not Bellamy’s style.

“ _Tell me your secrets, ask me your questions, oh let’s go back to the start,_ ” Clarke is practically singing into the side of Bellamy’s face now, lips pasted to his cheekbone.

“ _Running in circles, coming up tails, heads on a science apart,_ ” Clarke wrinkles her nose at the silly lyric. For the chorus, Bellamy builds up the confidence to look away from his fingers and up into Clarke’s eyes.

 _“Nobody said it was easy, and it’s such a shame for us to part, nobody said it was easy, but no one ever said that it would be so hard, so take me back to the start,_ ”

Their lips come together, which causes Bellamy to completely lose his rhythm. He pulls his lips away and starts strumming the second verse, which Clarke doesn’t remember very well. She stumbles over the words until the chorus, and this time Bellamy chimes in. Although he really can’t sing, he attempts at a harmony which doesn’t sound that bad when he actually hits the notes.

“I didn’t think you were someone who would be into Coldplay.” Clarke says.

“I was super into them a few years back, I learned a lot of their songs, this is really the only one that stuck. Your voice is gorgeous by the way.”

“And yours is not.” She smirks at him and he laughs.

“I know, I know. Let me get my book out and you can pick something else for me to play.” He gets up and goes back to his closet. He drops a pile of books onto the bed beside, which she quickly begins to rifle through. She finds a song she likes and holds out the book so both of them can see it. He begins to strum.

“ _I’m gonna pick up the pieces, and build a lego house, if things go wrong we can knock it down._ ”

He can’t look into her eyes this time, because he doesn’t have the chords committed to memory, but she nestles her head in his neck and places her hand on his knee.

“ _My three words have two meanings, but there’s one thing on my mind, it’s all for you.”_

Clarke’s voice breaks on the high note, causing her hands to immediately fly over her mouth. Bellamy’s hands come off of the guitar, and he turns to look at her face which is becoming more and more red. He grabs her wrists and moves her hands behind his neck. He takes her bottom lip between his and massages slowly, achieving a gentle purr from Clarke.

“I think I’m done singing now.” She says with her bottom lip in the snag of his teeth

“That’s quite alright Princess,” He says, lips now pressed to her jawbone, “I quite like what’s happening now anyway.”

He shrugs off the guitar and places it on the floor beside the bed. She tangles her fingers in the hair at the nape of his neck and brings her tongue to the place where she left a bruise the day before. He cringes slightly when she begins to suck, and eventually ends up pushing her away.

“If you’re gonna do that, start somewhere new. Wait, actually don’t, I don’t want to be covered in hickeys when I go to work.”

“Fair enough, I’ll just send you off with a swollen lip then. It’ll match mine.”

She licks and sucks her way up his mandible, eventually making it to his mouth. She starts at the corner but glides her lips downward, encompassing his bottom lip. He lets out a squeak as she incorporates her teeth, which quickly turns into a moan as she continues to nibble. His hands move to her hips and he drags her across his lap. She rakes her fingers up his scalp and takes fistfulls of his hair. With enough of her body weight behind her, she shoves him backward onto the bed. She turns to lay beside him and gasps for air. She takes a good look at the swollen mess that is his bottom lip and she smiles to herself. He looks like he’s pouting.

“You’re pretty.” He says, brushing a single strand of hair out of her face and boops her nose with his lips.

“You look ridiculous with that balloon on your face.”

He takes a look at his watch.

“I’ve got 30 minutes before I’ve gotta be at work, so hopefully it will go down by then. If not I’ll just tell people that I got stung by a bee.”

Clarke giggles, and takes a good look into Bellamy’s eyes. “You’re pretty too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Songs are The Scientist by Coldplay, and Lego House by Ed Sheeran. I promise you there will be smut to come, you'll just have to wait ;)


	7. chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clarke goes out for lunch with the guys and Raven.

Clarke isn’t surprised when Raven isn’t in the dorm when she returns from Bellamy’s. She changes her clothes and takes out her books to study. She gets about an hour’s worth of solid studying done before she gets a call from Raven.

“I’m out with the boys at the Starbucks right now, Bellamy’s lip is fucking huge. What the fuck did you do? Also he has a very nice hickey on his jawbone. Nice work. Please meet us here, we have very much to discuss.”

“Do we really have to discuss it at the Starbucks though? What if Bell overhears us talking about him?”

“He won’t, it’s crammed in here. Get your fucking ass over to this Starbucks right now or so help me sugar I’ll drag you here.” Clarke admires Raven’s ability to sound both feisty and cute at the same time.

“Fine, fine. I’ll be there in ten.” Clarke hangs up the phone angrily, confused as to why she even agreed to meet at the Starbucks. She takes her car to the cafe because Raven will be mad at her if she takes any extra time than she needs to by using her bike. A hand wraps around Clarke’s wrist as she enters the Starbucks, and drags her to a table in the corner by the window.

“Can you at least let me buy a drink first?” She asks.

“Be quick, be quick, I want to hear all about it!” Raven begs. Monty shoots Clarke a sympathetic look, feeling sorry that Clarke has to put up with Ravens antics on the day-to-day. Clarke waits in line for a few minutes before meeting Bellamy’s lips with a quick peck.

“Your lip is still huge. I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay Princess, it was worth it.” He flashes a row of his teeth, making Clarke’s guilt simply fly away.

“I’ll take a BlakeShake.”

“You really like that thing, don’t you?”

“I like anything you make, how could Mr. Perfect not make anything that wasn’t spectacular?” There’s only a tiny hint of sarcasm in her voice when she says it. She again refuses to let Bellamy pay for her drink, and retrieves it at the end of the counter. She begins to mentally prepare herself for the encounter that approaches.

“So did you suck his dick?” Raven asks before Clarke has even sat down.

“No, we had a pretty low-key night. Lots of cuddles. I guess the most sexual it got was when we showered together. Nothing really happened though, we were just naked in close proximity.”

“Oh my God! That means you saw his dick right? How long was it. This is the moment of truth, the great reveal. I’ve been waiting for this moment my entire life.” She says it like she forgets Wick is even there. Each of Wick, Monty, and Jasper send her a sideways and judgemental glance. She ignores them, continuing to drill her eyes into Clarke’s soul.

“Really Raven? Do I have to talk about his penis with him standing right over there?”

“Of course you do. Spill.”

“Alright, it’s eight inches.” All of the men’s eyes go wide.

“Now is it really eight inches, or is it fuckboy eight inches?”

“No, I’m pretty sure it’s actually eight inches. It’s probably the longest one I’ve ever seen.”

“Alright, well I’m not gonna believe you until you actually get out a measuring tape and measure that shit. Eight inches is just too good to be true.”

Clarke’s phone buzzes in her pocket: ‘ **are u guys actually talking abt my penis?** ’

‘ **How the fuck can you hear us?** ’

Bellamy has a customer so his response doesn’t come right away. She zoned out of the conversation for too long, now completely disconnected from their vehement discussion about dicks. She scans the surrounding area, hoping there aren’t any young children around to be tainted by their penis-talk.

‘ **I can’t hear everything, but I’ve heard you say ‘eight inches’ like 10 times.** ’

‘ **Sorry, I guess this is a total invasion of your privacy. Raven’s been bugging me abt it for like a week tho. I’m pretty sure she would eat me if I didn’t tell her.** ’

‘ **Well you couldn’t at least talk abt it while I was out of earshot?** ’

‘ **I’m so sorry. I’ll make it up to you, promise. ;)** ’

Bellamy doesn’t respond again. Clarke tries her best to collaborate herself back into the conversation. She hears it out for a few second.

“Well I’m pretty sure the longest dick in the world is like, 13 inches.” Monty says.

“How are you supposed to fuck anyone though? I think vaginas only go like eight or nine inches.” Raven asks.

“Well I think you could get it up someone’s ass, but I wouldn’t want to do that to anyone, I bet that hurts like bitch.” Jasper adds.

“Like you don’t know what that feels like.” Raven lets escape. She claps both of her hands over her mouth and turns bright red. Jasper flushes. Clarke attempts to distract from what happened.

“You’d probably have to get custom-made condoms.” She tries. Nobody really acknowledges her, all eyes and focus are on Jasper and Raven.

“Jasper, I don’t know what to say. I’m so sorry, I’m so so sorry. That was beyond uncalled for, I really shouldn’t have said that. Fuck, I’m so sorry.”

Jasper still doesn’t say a word. He’s deep in thought.

“I guess this is as appropriate a time as any to come out as Pan?” A grin spreads across Clarke’s face, which causes the same effect on Jasper.

“And I guess that means I’m gay?” Monty chimes.

Clarke is beaming at this point. She looks over to Raven and Wick: “Guess who’s outnumbered! The straights are outnumbered!” She high-fives both Jasper and Monty as hard as she can, leaving them shaking their hands to alleviate the sting. Jasper and Monty both have a vaguely uncomfortable but somehow also relieved look on their faces. Clarke envelopes both of them in her arms and the discomfort slowly slips away.

“Well this has been a very eventful journey. I’ve got to slip out though, congratulations guys. And I’ll see you guys at the lacrosse game tonight. If I don’t see you again before the game, good luck Jasper!” Wick says, he hugs the guys as best he can across the table and makes his way out of the store.

“And I guess I’ll go with him, I’m sure you three want to talk anyway. Again I’m so sorry Jasper, and congratulations! And good luck too I guess.” Raven adds, she hugs them to and trails Wick out.

Clarke slides into the booth across from Jasper and Monty: “I wanna hear everything! When did you know? How did it happen? I’m a sucker for this stuff!”

“Well,” Jasper starts, “For the longest time I thought I was gay. For like a year and a half of my life I only did it with dudes. But then I met this girl, Maya. I really really liked her. We didn’t go very far, she was only visiting for a month or two, but it was enough to make me realise that I liked girls too. And then I started researching sexuality and gender and stuff because it was becoming really interested in it, and I discovered non-binary genders. I’m pretty sure I’m attracted to them too. Basically nothing really matters as long as they’re hot?”

“Yeah, it took this guy’s dick in my ass for me to figure it out.” Monty says. Clarke gasps and her mouth drops open, then a humongous grin spreads across her face.

“I need to know more of this story.”

“Alright, so this was probably about a year and a half ago, right near the beginning of first year. Jasper still thought he was gay, I had known for probably a few months. We went out to a club with a really all too loud group of friends, and we eventually got separated from them whether by accident or on purpose. By that point, we were both already completely pissed drunk, and before we knew it our tongues were in each other’s mouths. It all really went downhill from there.”

“Oh my God. This is too much for me. This is probably the best moment of my life.” Clarke is laughing, and fanning herself to cool down her hot face. “Why didn’t you guys tell me sooner though?”

“Clarke, you know why. You’ve had to come out yourself to countless people. It’s not an easy thing to do.” Monty says.

“True enough, but I trusted you enough to come out to you.”

“I’m sorry if you’re offended or anything, but you don’t really have the right to be. This is our personal information and we felt comfortable to disclose it now, so now is when we did it.” Jasper expands.

“Yeah, you’re right, I’m sorry. I really should get back to the dorm and study for Chem. I’ve barely studied for it at all, I’ve been focusing all of my attention on Biology and Anatomy.” She gets up from the table, hugging each of them and wishing Jasper good luck, before she wanders over to Bellamy’s surprisingly empty counter.

“You heading out Princess?”

“Yeah, I’ve gotta study. You’ve been taking all of my free time away. I’m gonna fail my exams because of you.”

“No you won’t Princess, you’re too smart to fail. I can back off if you want though, the semester does end in a couple weeks.”

“No, no, no. Please don’t back off. I like you. I like you a lot. It just means Raven is gonna be mad at me because I’m gonna be spending all the time that I’m not spending with you on studying. She’ll have to live with it, she does spend a lot of time with Wick.”

“You’re beautiful when you’re thinking,” He pecks her lips, “Did you know you get a little crease right here.” He kisses her just above her left eyebrow.

“Yeah, my mom says that. She tells me not to scrunch up my face, but at this point it really is subconscious.”

He laughs quietly: “Well you’d better go study my little bookworm. I’ll call you tonight.”

She pecks him on the cheek before escaping the store and driving back to her dorm building.

The call comes just when she expected it to, about 8:00. She’d just gotten back from celebratory dinner with Raven and the guys, so it was perfect timing.

“So how’s my beautiful Princess?”

“I’m fucking stuffed, that’s how I am. Jasper’s lacrosse team won the finals so we went out for dinner.” Clarke seems to always overeat when it comes to pasta.

“That’s my girl. I’m glad you’re not one of those girls who under-eats near the beginning of the relationship so she doesn’t ‘look like a pig’” She can’t see if he does air quotes on the other end, but she figures that he probably is.

“Any guy who’d be turned away from me because of how much I eat is not worth it. A bitch gotta eat.” Bellamy’s laugh is barely picked up by the phone. She figures he’s on speaker.

“So Octavia’s party is in just a couple weeks, eh? It’s kind of weird how she put it on the night of the last exams though, because people are gonna be shit tired from studying.”

“I think once everyone gets a little alcohol in them we’ll all forget about it. Are you going by the way?”

“I don’t think she’d want me there. I figure it’s probably pretty uncool to have your older brother at your birthday party.”

“True enough. And she probably wants to hook up afterwards so it would be pretty awkward to have you there.”

“Hey, what the fuck, don’t tell me these things about my younger sister. Like, I know they’re happening, I don’t need to be reminded. Anyway, she’ll be there with her boyfriend, Lincoln. The two of them have been dating for over a year now, which if I remember properly, is the longest relationship that O has ever had.”

It takes Clarke a second, but then she remembers exactly who Lincoln is. She remembers hating him in first year because she could tell that Octavia was pining after him (and that he was pining after her too).

“Oh yeah, I know Lincoln. He seems really nice.”

“I don’t like him.”

“Why not?”

“This is gonna sound really dumb, but ever since she started seeing him, we haven’t been hanging out as much anymore.”

“Of course that doesn’t sound stupid! It might if I didn’t know your situation, but I know you guys are attached at the hip and that you’d give the world for her. It’s really sweet.”

“Thanks Princess. A lot of girls I’ve been with don’t really understand it.”

“Well then I guess you’re lucky to have me.”

“Tell me about it.”

“I don’t think we can get back together until next Friday night. I’m really cramming at this point. Exams seem to be approaching a lot faster than I thought. My anatomy exam is in 11 days. Can you fucking believe that? 11 days!”

“Holy shit! I guess that means my Ancient History exam is in 11 days too. Fuck that.”

“Have you started studying yet?”

“I’m a cram-the-night-before kind of guy.”

“Why doesn’t that surprise me?”

“You know me too well.”

“Well yeah, isn’t it kind of alarming how we know each other so well after only knowing each other for about two weeks now? I feel like we’re not in the get-to-know-you phase anymore even though that usually lasts over a month.”

“I’m pretty sure that’s a good thing. We get along so well that we were comfortable opening up to each other right from the start.”

“True enough, and we’ve been meeting up more often than the average new couple. Either we’re moving way too fast and this is going to crash and burn fairly soon, or we’ll be together forever.”

“I’d prefer the latter.” Even though there was nothing else that was really appropriate for Bellamy to say in that situation, it still caused Clarke’s heart to flutter.

“Me too.” She cooes quietly.

The calm serenity of Clarke’s quiet reply is disturbed by Bellamy yelling: “Okay but who do you think you are talking about my dick to all of your friends?”

“Raven has been fantasizing about it since day one Bell, there was really no getting around it.”

“Well that raises even more questions! Why the fuck has your best friend, who is dating my pal Wick by the way, been fantasizing about my penis. Something here seems slightly askew.”

“Oh, I didn’t know that you and Wick were friends!”

“Don’t change the subject Princess, I’m actually feeling pretty violated right now and would like a bit of explanation.”

“I mean, I didn’t think it would matter that much to you. I thought it would be something you’d want people to know. Cuz let me tell you it’s pretty fucking impressive.”

“I guess, but it’s kind of private Clarke. Please don’t go around talking about our sex life. And I guess if you completely must to avoid getting strangled by Raven at least do it in the privacy of your own dorm. Is that too much to ask?”

“No it’s not too much to ask, I completely see where you’re coming from. I’ll keep it on the down-low from now on, keep it between you, me, and sometimes Raven.”

“I’ve actually gotta start hacking away at this paper for Modern History, so maybe I should get going.”

“Wait, how many history courses are you taking?”

“Well this year I’ve got Ancient, Modern, and Mythology. I really love history.”

“I can tell. Well I guess I’ll leave you to that. I don’t know if I’ll be around at Starbucks tomorrow, but if I’m not I’ll make sure to call. Or not. Who knows? Not me. Goodbye.”

“Talk to you later Princess.” She hangs up. She flicks her Chemistry book open and takes out her highlighters, immediately being completely immersed. The slight high from talking to Bellamy has actually began to help with her studying as opposed to detract from it. Raven walks in an hour later and plunks herself down on Clarke’s bed, breathing out an exaggerated huff as she does so.

“What’s the deal?”

“Wick’s picking up a new shift at the Montanas that’s gonna make it so we can’t see each other as much.”

“Fuck.”

“Yeah, and just as I thought we were getting more serious. I really hope this doesn’t throw a wrench in things.”

“Well I figure if you’ll be meeting less, the meetings that you do have will be a lot more passionate and desperate. I don’t really know exactly how it will work out, but it is possible that it can be a benefit.”

“Thanks, you always know how to cheer me up.”

“It’s what I’m here for. Oh, and by the way, Bellamy doesn’t want us to talk about our sex lives in public. I made him settle for being allowed to talk to you about it in our dorm, but other than that it’s a no-go. He’s quite uncomfortable with it.”

“Yeah, that’s fair. I was worried I was crossing some sort of line today, I just really wanted to know. And the conversation did inspire some positive output so it can’t be all wrong.”

“Definitely, just from now on if there’s anything you want to hear about Bellamy and I you’re going to hear it within these walls.”

“So is there anything you held back when we were talking about him earlier.”

“Bitch his ass is better than mine. I grabbed that thing when we were in the shower together and it is plump, and squishy, and muscular, and round and wow. Just wow.”

“Yo that’s no fair, Wick’s ass is tiny. Why is your guy so much hotter than mine?” They laugh, knowing Raven only half meant what she said about Wick.

“I think I deserve to know how long Wick’s dick is now.”

“Not eight inches, that’s for sure.”

“So how long is it?”

“Probably five or six, I’ve never properly measured. He’s still a good fuck though, size only kind of matters. I had to vehemently insist to him that size doesn’t matter to me after we had that whole Bellamy discussion, but to you, I’m gonna say it only kind of matters.”

“Size matters and you know it. There’s no way you could fuck three inches.”

“Well that’s why it only kind of matters. It doesn’t matter that much as long as you’re over five or six, anything smaller than that is no good.” They laugh awkwardly, both being now more than done with their conversation.

“We need to incorporate Bellamy into our group. I always fifth wheel when we go out.”

“That’s because your man is always working at our usual going out times. I’d love to get to know your boo better, it just happens that all five of our schedules seem to line up at a few specific times and his does not.”

“Speaking of which, how’s the job hunt going?”

“You know how it’s going Clarke. But imagine how much my schedule would change if I got one. If Wick’s new hours didn’t throw a spanner in the works then that sure as hell will.”

“Okay, pause, did you just fucking say ‘throw a spanner in the works’? Who are you? Fucking Downton Abbey?”

“First off Downton Abbey is a place and not a person, secondly I have no excuse.” Clarke throws herself back on her bed and lets out a good hard string of laughs. Sometimes she dreads that Raven will move in with Wick. She can’t imagine not having Raven to talk to like this. Raven mumbles something about studying, and Clarke gets ready for bed. Clarke has finally managed to get used to falling asleep with Raven’s desk lamp on.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for all the penis talk. Reading it over that was fucking ridiculous.


	8. chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clarke has a pretty bad day, but spends the evening at Bellamy's

Clarke knows she has a lazy Sunday in front of her from the moment she wakes up. She has unbearable cramps, she’s dog tired, and she feels like she’s got a pole up her spine keeping it completely stiff. Day three is usually pretty bad, but never this bad. She knows she won’t be spending much time out of the dorm today, she figure she’ll just be watching watching TV shows on her laptop and failing at studying. Raven is fumbling around the room, probably panicking because her alarm didn’t go off yet again. It’s five minutes to 10:00 and she has a class on the hour. Believably enough though, rushed mornings are pretty commonplace in Raven’s world.

Once the elephant is done trampling around Clarke’s room, she figures she’ll be able to flick on some music that will coax her back to sleep. She’s wrong. She’s faced by the shattering reality that she’ll probably have to get out of bed and at least retrieve her laptop from her desk. She practically rolls off of her bed and ends up on the floor. It takes her a few seconds to muster up the strength and willpower to sit up, and another few more to get to an upright and standing position. She goes to the washroom and splashes her face, which offers no assistance. And then her stomach starts to feel sick, and she pukes into the toilet. Using the toilet seat for leverage, she shoves herself back upright and walks back over to the sink to brush her teeth. She’s suddenly very dizzy, and suddenly her feet are no longer below her.

 

She wakes up in the hospital. There’s a brace on her neck, her head is pounding, and her vision is blurred, but she scans the room as best she can with her eyes. She finds Raven.

“What happened?” She croaks. The sound she makes is raspy and quiet, but Raven hears it.

“I’m not even quite sure, I came into the dorm after class and you were unconscious on the floor. From what I’ve heard, you have a dislocated shoulder and a pretty severe concussion. They’re not sure what the deal is with your wrist, but when I found you it was folded underneath you all funny.”

“How long have I been here? What time is it?”

“It’s right about noon-thirty. You’ve been here for probably 45 minutes.”

“Have you called anyone? Who knows I’m here?”

“The guys all know you’re here, they said they’ll visit after lunch. I called Bellamy with your phone but I got his machine. I think it’s totally adorable how is name in your phone is Bell with a heart beside it.”

“I really should change my phone passcode.”

“If you changed your phone passcode I wouldn’t have been able to call Bellamy and tell him you’re here. We wouldn’t want that now, would we?”

“I guess you’re right. And you don’t even have a passcode on your phone. My head is fucking pounding. Do they have me on morphine? Because I want to be.”

“Do you want me to buzz a nurse?”

“I shouldn’t take meds unless I need them. I don’t want to drive this medical bill any higher than the $10,000 it probably already is.”

“Like you can’t afford it. I think if your parents can afford a full 11 years of med school for you, you can afford some morphine.”

“Fair enough. Okay, buzz me a nurse.” Raven presses a large red button beside Clarke’s bed. A nurse comes into the room within the minute.

“How can I help you?” He asks.

“Her head is pounding, she wants some painkillers.”

“She’s already on the maximum dosage that the doctor suggested. It may take a little while longer to kick in. We should be able to start treatments on your arm soon though. I don’t think you’ll have to sleep over.”

“Thank you sir.” The nurse leaves, and Clarke breathes out a long exaggerated huff. She closes her eyes and drifts back to sleep.

 

She’s woken up by a nurse: “We’re going to pop your shoulder back in now. You might want to brace yourself.” Clarke grabs onto the rail on the side of her bed, and lets out a strangled scream as her arm is violently shoved back into it’s socket. The fact that her head is still pounding is pushed aside in her head, and all of her mind is occupied by the shredding pain in her shoulder.

“We’ll take you to have your wrist X-rayed now.” The nurse says. Clarke notices that Raven isn’t at the hospital anymore, but she doesn’t mind. Why would Raven stick around while Clarke was sleeping?

They take her in to be X-rayed, and then she has to wait for her results. It hurts to keep her eyes open due to light sensitivity, but she also knows that she’s slept far too much in the past 24 hours and won’t be able to sleep again. She lays waiting with her eyes closed, not being even able to think due to the throbbing pain in her skull. Her eyes come open when she feels a squeeze on her hand. She flits her eyes across her face to meet the tan, freckled campus that is the face of her boyfriend.

“Shouldn’t you be working?” Are the first words that escape from her mouth.

“As soon as I got Raven’s call I came over. I explained everything to my boss, and she understood everything. She said if it was her boyfriend she wouldn’t even have asked, she’s be right out the door. Now she doesn’t know that we’ve only been dating for two weeks, but she doesn’t have to.”

“Bell, you can’t afford to be missing work like this. I’ll be fine, it’s not worth missing your shift.”

“There’s only two hours left in it, and my boss said it wouldn’t come out of my paycheck. All stops are barred Princess, no need to worry about me. Right now I’m just worried about you.”

“Don’t be. I’ll be completely fine. I just have a pounding neck and a broken wrist, oh and a relocated shoulder. It’s all no big deal.”

“Doesn’t sound like no big deal to me. It sounds like something that needs some kisses better.” He starts by kissing her hand, which is actually a very good distraction from the unbearable pain in her brain. He peppers kisses all the way up her arm, then skips over the neck brace to her cheek. By this point the heart monitor that she’s hooked up to is going excessively faster than it was just seconds before. Her eyes flutter shut and he kisses her eyelids, which causes the monitor to speed up enough that a nurse flies into the room. Bellamy pulls away from her quickly and sits beside the bed, hoping that what he was doing wouldn’t get him kicked out.

“Is everything okay?” The nurse asks.

“Yeah, I just kissed her cheeks and forehead and stuff and it caused her heart-rate to accelerate, she’s all good now.”

“Okay, please refrain from any activity that would cause her heart-rate to change like that. It causes unnecessary concern.”

“Of course, I’m sorry.” The nurse leaves, and Bellamy bursts into hysterics. Clarke tries to pretend that she’s not embarrassed by the rapid increase in her heart-rate, but resisting the red blush that spreads across her face hurts her head.

“Can you be a little quieter please, it’s hurting my head.”

“Oh shit, I’m so sorry. If you want me to leave I can.”

“No, please don’t leave Bellamy. Please stay. I need you.” She reaches for his hand, though she can’t turn to find it. He grasps her fingers and squeezes them tight.

“I’ll never leave you.” The sentence sends shivers down her spine.

 

She must have drifted asleep, but Bellamy is still holding her hand when the doctor comes in and wakes her up to show her X-rays of her wrist. He explains some medical mumbo-jumbo that she’d understand if her head wasn’t screaming. Then he starts on a cast for it right then and there. Thankfully there’s no need for surgery. Clarke squeezes Bellamy’s hand as the doctor contorts her broken wrist in order to get it positioned correctly in the gauze and plaster. Bellamy worries that Clarke’s grip is so tight that he might need the doctor afterward.

“Alright. Follow up appointment in two weeks,” The doctor turns to Bellamy, “Be sure to wake her up every few hours in the night, her concussion is very severe and could result in permanent brain damage if anything were to happen.”

“Oh, sir, we don’t live together.”

“Oh, sorry, well can you just relay the message to whomever she lives with then. Be sure she drinks lots of fluids. I’ll prescribe you some painkillers, because your head will be quite sore for a few days. Don’t spend  lot of time looking at screens, avoid them as best you can. And I’ll give you a wheelchair for now. One thing we definitely do not want is for her to suffer another fall.”

“All right, thank you. I’ll be sure to relay that all to her roommate.” The doctor leaves, and a nurse comes in with a wheelchair and some papers. Bellamy helps Clarke to fill in the paperwork, then the nurse lets Bellamy lift Clarke out of the bed and into the chair. Clarke closes her eyes due to the bright light as he wheels her out into the hallway. He takes her out to his car and helps her into the passenger seat, managing somehow to fit the folded wheelchair into the back.

“Where to?”

“Can we go to your house for now? Just until we make sure that Raven’s home. She might even have a class. What time is it?”

“It’s 5:30. Are you hungry?”

“Just for something small. What did you have in mind?”

“I’ll take you home and I’ll make you something. I think I have ingredients for mac and cheese, does that sound okay?”

“As long as it’s made by you, it’s lovely.” Clarke scrunches her face up in pain, so Bellamy rubs her knee while he drives. It doesn’t help the pain, but it makes her feel warm inside. It makes her feel loved.

But she knows he doesn’t love her yet. They haven’t known each other for long enough. While she knows her feeling for him are climbing at an excessively quick pace, she also knows that there’s no way that she could be in love with him either. She’s been in love before. When you’re in love, they’re on your mind constantly. All you want to do at any given time is to be with them. She’ll want to discuss everything with him, even the trivial details of her day. And she does want to be with him a lot, but she’s not selfish about him yet. She’ll know when she loves him because she’ll be happy to kiss him over the counter during his shift at the Starbucks. She’ll know that she’s in love with him when she’s happy that he shows up when he’s supposed to be working, rather than disappointed that he’s giving up pay for her. It confuses her that she’s even thinking about love two weeks into the relationship. And then she stops thinking because her head hurts.

Bellamy leaves the wheelchair in the car and simply carries her to the house. She leans his head on his chest and focuses on its rise and fall, in order to distract from the pain of Bellamy’s incredibly bouncy and uneven feeling walk. He struggles to get his house key out of his pocket with her in his arms, which results in a lot of very painful jostling.

“Please put me down.” She whines.

“Are you sure you can stand okay?”

“I’ll brace myself on the wall, just until you can get the door open.”

Reluctantly, he lets her feet down to the ground, and helps her get to a leaning position on the wall beside the door. He gets the door unlocked as quickly as he can, and takes her inside to place her on the couch.

“Will you be okay here while I make dinner? I can get you a glass of water if you’d like.”

“Water would be nice.” He runs to the kitchen a brings her back an orange plastic cup. She takes a long sip, and he takes it from her to put it on the side table. After making sure she’s okay with it, he goes to the kitchen to start dinner. She curls into a ball and focuses on listening to him cook. Even though she can’t see him at all, she can mostly tell what he’s doing. She hears boxes and bags rustling and shaking, meaning he’s looking for the noodles in the cupboard. A low humming sound means his in the refrigerator getting cheese. A bubbling sound means that he’s boiling water. The sound of the boiling water makes her realise something though.

“Bell!” She calls.

“Yeah?”

“I have to pee.”

“Oh, alright.” He comes into the living room and wraps her up in his arms.

“I need my purse.” He grabs her purse. He nudges the bathroom door open with his hip, and takes her inside.

“I assume you want privacy?”

“Yes please.”

“Are you gonna be able to get around in here alright on your own?”

“I’m not dizzy, my head is just throbbing. I think I’ll be fine.” He leaves the bathroom, but stays right outside the door. Fighting through the pain of exerting energy she doesn’t have is a struggle, but she powers through it. She manages to wash her hands, but has to sit down immediately afterward.

“I’m done.”

Being picked up off of the bathroom floor is odd, and something she hopes will never have to happen again. He sits her at the kitchen table this time, knowing their dinner will be ready shortly. The mountain of cheesy noodles that he places in front of her is oddly intimidating. She pokes at it with her fork for a few seconds, unsure of what to make of it.

“Is everything okay?” He asks, noticing that she has yet to take a bite.

“Yeah, I’ll get around to it, just give me a second.”

He watches her poke at it for a few seconds more, until she finally takes a small scoop of noodles onto her fork.

“Fuck.” She says, with her first bite still in her mouth.

“Is it okay?”

“It’s more than okay. Fuck.” She pushes another bite into her mouth before she’s even swallowed her first one.

“Don’t go too fast, take your time.”

Per his suggestion, she makes sure to swallow what’s in her mouth before taking another forkfull.

“How do you feel?”

“A lot better already. This is so fucking good Bell. If you’re gonna keep cooking for me like this maybe I’m gonna have to start cooking stuff for you.”

“When was the last time you cooked anything for anyone?”

“Never? Maybe longer than that. But it’s never too late to try. Next time I come over here I’m gonna make you something. And trust me, it will be fucking sultry.”

“Sultry?”

“You heard me right, Blake. I’m gonna make you a sultry-ass dish and you’re gonna love it.”

“I’m sure I will, as long as it’s made by you.” Clarke has trouble focusing on more than one thing at once, so she moves her concentration to the pasta. Bellamy gets far too much satisfaction from watching her eat his food.

“What now, Princess?” He asks once she’s finished eating.

“Well for once in the past 12 hours I finally have energy, so I don’t want to sleep yet. Why don’t you play me a song? Quietly of course, though sound doesn’t hurt my head that much unless it’s super loud.”

“Alright, I’ll carry you up to my room. I have just the song in mind.” In order to get her up the stairs, he has her climb onto his back and carries her piggy-back style. He turns his back to the bed and lets her drop down onto it. He goes to his closet to get his guitar, but she grabs his wrist with her good hand before he’s out of her reach. He pulls him toward her and kisses him on the mouth. It’s not a very powerful or strong kiss by any stretch, but he can feel her pouring herself into it. There’s something different about this kiss than other kisses. And it’s because there is no desperation. She’s not desperate for him anymore, she knows now, with all her heart, that he’s here to stay. She lets him go so he can retrieve his guitar from the closet.

“I’m gonna start with a warm up song. This isn’t the song I was talking about earlier. I think you’ll probably know this though, you familiar with Oasis?”

“Is it Wonderwall, Sally Can Wait, or Champagne Supernova?”

“Well I’m pretty sure Sally Can Wait is actually called Don’t Look Back in Anger, but I think I know all of them. Which one do you want?”

“Wonderwall is cliche, and I don’t know the words to Champagne Supernova, so I guess Don’t Look Back in Anger.”

“Wait, you’re saying you know the words to Don’t Look Back in Anger even though you didn’t even know the title.”

“I have head trauma, just play it.”

“Okay, but no singing, I don’t want you to tire yourself out or hurt your little head.”

“I wasn’t planning on it. Stop stalling. Play.”

He thinks for a few seconds, but then aligns his fingers on the first chord and begins to strum. She doesn’t have to focus on singing or remembering the lyrics, so instead she studies his face. He gets a lot of creases on his forehead when he’s thinking, he obviously doesn’t play this song very much, because it looks like he’s struggling to remember the chords. His mouth is pressed into a thin line, and she wants to badly to kiss him. But she holds back, knowing that he would probably take it as she would rather kiss him than listen to him play (which actually was the case, but he didn’t have to know that). When he gets to the pre-chorus, he starts singing.

“ _I’m gonna start a revolution from my bed._ ”

Immediately Clarke places her hand on his knee and begins to shush him. He giggles and gets back to playing. He plays through the rest of the song, never trying to sing again, and Clarke never stopping to look at anything but his beautifully sculpted face.

“I have to sing the next song. Is that gonna be okay or are you gonna shush me again?”

“Depends how bad you sound.”

“Once you hear the lyrics, I don’t think you’ll mind.”

Although his voice is trembling and his hands are shaky, he doesn’t give her time to object, already having begun to play.

“ _The little crease above her eyebrows when she thinks. The way she rolls her eyes too much. The way her kisses last much longer than they should, even when her lips are gone. The way she’s just a little bit of a nerd, the way she studies way too much. Every little thing she says and she does, makes me know it’s not a crush._ ” Clarke knows exactly what this is, but she just stares at him and doesn’t say anything. She knows he’s about to start on the chorus.

“ _Because she’s a Princess, my Princess, she’s dressed in a gown and adorned with a crown. She’s a Princess, my Princess, she makes the world fall down._ ” And she can’t find any of the words to say.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My friend who I have proofread these hated me so much for the beginning of the chapter. I think it ended off pretty nice though :) you can message me on tumblr- stephenrogers (main) or hairgelbellamy (side)


	9. chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is just a continuation of last chapter. Some more cute and fluffy Bellamy and Clarke :)

It takes her a second to notice the tears that are brimming her eyes. She takes the guitar off of him quickly and curls up into his arms, embracing the tears and letting them fall on his shirt. She kind of hates herself for crying, but if he gets judgemental about it she can use her head trauma as an excuse. He won’t though. He traces small circles on her back and continues humming the song to her, which isn’t helping on the crying front.

“I can’t believe you did that for me,” She sputters, “Fuck Bellamy, fuck.”

“I’m so glad you liked it.”

“How could I not. I’ve never had a song written about me before. Oh my God Bellamy. Fuck.” She’s having trouble wrapping her head around the whole situation.

“It isn’t too soon? It felt kind of odd to write a song about you even though I haven’t known you very long, but the words came to me naturally and I just went with it.”

“No, of course it’s not too soon. Don’t be silly.”

He doesn’t talk anymore, he just continues to trace circles on her back. He hopes he’ll be able to lull her to sleep, but she knows that’s what he’s doing and she resists. She doesn’t want to sleep, not after what just happened. She musters up enough strength to push him back so they’re both lying down, with her draped across his chest. She starts to trace circles right above his heart. Knowing that if she keeps letting herself relax like this she’s going to fall asleep, she sits up a little to look at his face.

“What is it, Princess?”

“I want to talk.”

“What do you want to talk about?”

“I don’t know. Why don’t you tell me about your favourite memory with Octavia.”

“Oh wow that’s a tough one. Let me see,” He pauses for a few seconds, “Alright, so my buddies and I used to have massive games of water balloon manhunt in this huge park in our neighbourhood. It probably started when we were about 13 or 14 and went on til just a couple years ago. Anyway, each of the 15 or so of us playing was responsible for bringing 50 water balloons. I’m 18, O is 15, and I’m working on filling up my water balloons for the game in the backyard, when I hear O and a few of her friends yelling from the front yard. I go check over the fence to see what’s happening, and it turns out there are about eight guys spewing sexist and offensive language at my sister and about three of her friends. I’m not having any of this, so I bring my huge bin of water balloons over to the fence and start launching them at these guys. The guys start to run, so I get the water balloons out into the front yard, get the girls to load up, and we start chasing this group of teenage boys down the street with water balloons. We got them absolutely fucking drenched, it was incredible. I did need to go buy more water balloons and fill them all up, but it was totally worth it.” Clarke laughs hard and long and drapes her arm over his waist. She runs her fingers up and down his ribcage.

“What about you?” He asks, “You got any funny childhood memories?”

“Alright, so my best friend as a kid was named Wells. I think I’ve told you about him before. Anyway, there was this girl who I was really really close with, we were incredible friends, but she trashed me to the guy I liked because she liked him too and she didn’t want him to like me. We were in art class a few days after, and we were using paints, and Wells didn’t like his painting very much. It was wet, and he was walking over to the drying rack, but he saw he was about to walk past the girl. He pretended to trip over his own feet, and smashed his wet painting right into her face. She couldn’t wash it off her face no matter how hard she tried, and the front of her hair was stained red and green for days. It’s awesome that Wells did it, because if I’d have done it it definitely would look like I was doing it out of spite, but since Wells did it it definitely could pass off as an accident.”

“Wow, I’ve gotta meet this Wells guy and give him a pat on the back.”

“Well you can visit in the summer. I only live a few hours north of here, right up around Buffalo, New York.”

“Alright, I’ll put it on my to-do list,” Bellamy glances over to the clock on the bedside table. It’s 7:30, “You should call Raven and tell her what’s happening tonight.”

“Yeah you’re right, but what is happening tonight?”

“Well I could take you back to your dorm, or you could spend the night here. Obviously you can’t go to any of your lectures tomorrow, so it’s fine either way. The doctor told me that you probably won’t be able to focus on anything very well for at least three to five days.”

“Fuck, are you serious? That’s three to five days of no classes and no studying. Bellamy, exams start in eleven days! I can’t afford this. Fucking hell.” He rubs her back comfortingly.

“Hey, you’re probably already over-prepared for your exams. Missing just a few days of studying isn’t going to be the end of the world.”

“Back to the matter at hand, I’ll just stay here. Can you call Raven for me? My phone is just over there in my purse,” She points to the corner of the room, “My password is 2-2-3-2, and her name in my phone is ‘Perv’”

Bellamy laughs, knowing very little about Raven but enough to know the reason for her name. He rifles through Clarke’s purse, which is a maze of lip-balm and tampons and tissues and keys and condoms, until he eventually finds the phone. The lock screen is a picture of her and Raven. He consciously avoids looking around in her phone, only looking in her contacts to see what his name is. He’s slightly taken aback by the heart beside his name in his phone, but realises that it’s nothing to be freaked out about, and is just something sweet and cute. In his phone, she’s Princess with a crown emoji. He presses Raven’s contact and brings the phone to her ear.

“Oh my God! Clarke! Are you okay? Where are you? Who are you with? Are you still at the hospital?”

“Hey Raven, this is Bellamy.”

“Oh hey Bellamy. I guess Clarke is with you. Where are you? Are you bringing her back to the dorm? I’m not there right now but I will be soon.”

“No Raven, she’s gonna spend the night here. The doctor said she shouldn’t move around on her own yet, so it will be easier for me not to have to carry her around and just keep her here.”

“Sounds good to me. I guess she’s not going to class tomorrow?”

“No, the doctor said she’ll have trouble focusing for a while.”

“Oh she probably isn’t a fan of that.”

“Yeah, but I was able to comfort her enough that she stopped worrying about it for a bit.”

“Wait, you got her to stop worrying about it? You must really be magic Bellamy.”

“What can I tell you, she really likes me.” Clarke grins from the bed.

“Can I talk to her?” After asking if it’s okay, Bellamy passes the phone to Clarke.

“Hey Ray.”

“How you feeling Clarkey?”

“My head hurts, and my wrist does too. Not as much as my head though. It feels like my skull is too tight and my brain is being compressed by it.”

“Fuck, that sucks. You’re spending the night at Bellamy’s I hear?”

“Yeah, my head hurts too much to walk much on my own, and I’m sure Bell is tired of carrying me around by now. I’ll probably be a lot better in the morning after some rest. I’ll come over then. Plus I don’t have any clothes here, so I’ll have to come home. Bellamy is angry at me for taking his clothes.” Clarke sees Bellamy laughing silently as she says it.

“Alright, see you tomorrow then girlie, have a nice night with your prince. Too bad you can’t get any action.” Clarke hears Raven blow a kiss through the phone, and then hang it up.

Clarke turns her head slightly to see Bellamy holding a completely lace black thong out in front of his face.

“And you told her that you didn’t have any clothes here.” Clarke laughs hard enough to send a surge of pain to her head.

“I completely forgot about that thing. I think I left that here after our second first date.”

“You don’t seem like the sexy underwear type to me, Clarke.”

“And what’s that supposed to mean?”

He crosses the room and sits himself down beside her on the bed, still holding the panties bunched up in his hand.

“I don’t know, you just don’t seem like the kind of girl who would spend extra money on a pair of underwear that’s only purpose was to be taken off.”

“Okay, but what if I wanted to do a sexy-strip-dance thing? The effect would be kind of ruined if I was wearing fucking control panties don’t you think?” Bellamy lets a fascinated look pop up on his face.

“How often do you do strip dances?”

“I’ve done more than I care to admit.”

“Well you’re gonna have to do one of these for me sometime.”

“Duly noted.”

“But really, I never understood the sexy negligee lingerie type stuff. I’m not interested in the underwear, I’m interested in what’s underneath.” Clarke rolls her eyes.

“First off, it makes us feel really sexy. Secondly, if we’re wearing hot underwear doesn’t it make you want to take it off more? Wouldn’t you be more turned on by a girl completely in lace laying on your bed than you would be by a girl wearing everyday undergarments?”

“You know what I’d be most turned on by? A girl ass naked on my bed that’s what.” He puts the waistband of the lace panties between his teeth, and she swipes them out and throws them across the room, giggling the whole time.

“All in due time sir Blake, all in due time.”

“I guess we can’t fuck on Friday though, what with your fucked up head and wrist and shoulder. We probably won’t even be able to have sex until after exams. This really is testing my patience Princess.”

“If we don’t fuck soon I might stop liking you.”

“Don’t kid yourself Princess. Even if we never ended up doing it you’d still be head over heels.”

“True enough.” She breathes a soft kiss into his mouth, and is surprised when his breath comes in hot. She knows they can’t go too far without hurting her head, but a few hot kisses can’t hurt too much. Their tongues meet right in the middle, but Bellamy shoves through into her mouth. He licks and traces while she fiddles with the hem of his shirt, hesitantly sliding a thumb under to trace the V of his hipbone. He pulls back.

“You’re hurt. I don’t want to make it worse. I’m sorry, I got a little too turned on by our former conversation, this was my fault.” He pecks her nose and lays back. She follows him, and sets her head on top of his chest.

“We’re never gonna catch a break, are we Princess?”

“Maybe not, but I don’t mind. It’s no difference to me if we fuck tomorrow or if we fuck when we’re 40, I’ve still got the hottest boyfriend out there and everyone else should be jealous that you’re mine.”

He presses a kiss to her temple.

“I feel just the same.”

She nestles herself further into the crook of his arm, letting herself be completely enveloped by his warmth. Just as she’s starting to drift off, being coaxed asleep by Bellamy’s gentle hum of her song and the patterns he traces on her back, she remembers something.

“Bell,”

“What is it, Princess?”

“I have to pee.” He breathes out a huff, but stands up and guides her with his hand on the small of her back to the bathroom, grabbing her purse for her on the way. She manages to make her way around the bathroom on her own, but it drains the last of her energy. She nestles herself back into the crook of Bellamy’s arm, relying on his warmth to get her softly to sleep.

 

She wakes up at 10:00, having no memory at all of being stirred awake five or six times during the night so Bellamy could check up on her like the doctor told him to. When he tells her that he did, she wraps her arms tight around his neck and kisses him on the cheek. He says she doesn’t need to thank him, because he was only making sure that she didn’t die. She wakes up not knowing that Bellamy had already been awake for an hour and a half, and didn’t want to get up and disturb her. He laid in the same spot for the whole time, with her curled up against his chest. He really didn’t mind though, he loves watching her eyelashes flutter, and listening to her breathing patterns change as she dreams. He doesn’t let her walk down the stairs on her own, but once they get downstairs he lets her walk to the kitchen table.

“Who wants an omelette?”

“Clarke does!”

He grabs a pan from the dishwasher and starts heating it on the stove. While the pan is getting hot he turns on the coffeemaker. She watches him move around the kitchen, he moves with such a determination, knowing exactly what he’s going to do at each second. Even in her own dorm, Clarke knows that she doesn’t manoeuvre with the same finesse. He cracks the eggs in one swift strike, whereas it takes her a couple hard hits before the egg slinks out onto the floor and she has to try again. He obviously has a lot more experience with cracking eggs than her, but it still makes her feel weirdly small. And obviously it’s not just the eggs. He slices the green pepper like he’s done it a million times, and he shreds the cheese so fucking fast. She’s so entranced watching him cook that she doesn’t notice when he asks her something.

“Earth to princess! How do you take your coffee?” He repeats.

“Oh fuck, sorry, just a bit of milk.”

“No sugar?”

“My coffee is the one thing I don’t take sweet.”

“And my coffee is the one thing I do.” He says dumping three spoonfuls of sugar into the cup that is now his. He slides her mug at her across the table, and she wraps both her hands around it. She knows it’s still too hot for her to sip, so she just absorbs its warmth with her hands. Using both hands at once, he dumps the contents of both pans onto separate plates. He grabs cutlery from the drawer and sits down across from her, presenting her with her omelette. She looks at her own omelette, comparing it to his.

“Wow Bell, would you like any omelette with your cheese?”

“I’ve got the omelette to cheese ratio just right here. I figured you wouldn’t want as much. Oh, do you want salsa?”

“You got the hot stuff?”

“You know it.” He gets a jar of hot salsa out of the fridge for Clarke, and a jar of medium for himself. She coats her omelette and digs in.

“Thoughts?” He asks.

“Not enough cheese,” He lets out a laugh, “I’m just kidding, it’s marvellous. Ten-out-of-ten omelette.”

She polishes off her plate, and sticks it in the sink herself. She begins to turn back to the table but is halted by a pair of lips. She smiles into his mouth, making the kiss just a little more challenging. He pops her up onto the kitchen counter and braces himself against it. His hair becomes laced with her fingers.

“I have a class at eleven.” He murmurs into her mouth.

“It’s quarter to right now.”

“Looks like I’m not getting to class today.” She pulls back.

“No Bell, you should go. I’ll wait here til you get back.”

“I have a class at 1:00 too. I’m not leaving you here alone for four hours. Let’s get you ready to go home, and I’ll hang out with you in your dorm until 1:00”

“Alright Blake, but I do really need a shower.”

“And with that head injury of yours, there’s no way I could let you shower alone.” He slides her off the counter into his arms and brings his lips to the base of her neck. He goes as fast as he can up the stairs and drops her to her feet on the bathroom floor. Shirts are the first to go, Bellamy tuning on the shower while Clarke unhinges her bra. He gets his pants off before her and steps into the shower, water already streaming over his smooth skin when she follows. He notices that she had a plastic bag around her casted arm, but that’s obviously not his point of focus for very long. Again though, their shower isn’t sexual. They both know, from one too many slip ups, that shower sex most definitely is not worth it.  

However, they definitely do clean each other, Clarke letting her lips massage his while she lathers the shampoo into his hair. While it get’s in both of their eyes, that one was worth it. He traces the gentle curve of her hips when he brings the loofah over it, and she drags the flat, soapy palm of her good hand down his abs. They keep their hands off each other long enough to rinse off. Quickly, they discover that dressing each other is not nearly as fun as undressing.

 

The dorm is empty when they get there. Assumably, Raven is out with Wick. Or maybe she has a class. Clarke can never remember Raven’s schedule. A pile of clothes is launched into Bellamy’s arms as soon as he enters the room. He searches through it to find two pairs of pants and a t-shirt.

“How much are you keeping?” He asks.

“Just a pair of boxers and a t-shirt.”

“Alright, as long as I can keep those panties.”

“And what do you plan on doing with them?”

“Mounting them on a board and displaying them over my bed.” She laughs.

“I’m actually gonna wear this stuff, you have no reason to keep those.”

“Who says I’m not gonna wear them?”

“You’ll rip them! There’s no way all of your business will fit in there!”

“Okay, maybe I won’t wear them, but I still want to keep them.”

“Fine, whatever.” She rolls her eyes, which makes him kiss her. She laughs again into his mouth and wraps her arms around his waist.

“Hows your head today by the way?”

“It’s a dull ache that I’ve kind of gotten used to. I might open up my books today and see how that goes.”

“Okay, but don’t push yourself too hard.”

“Don’t tell me what to do.” She comes increasingly closer with each word, fitting her mouth to his once the sentence ends. He scoops her up and sits himself down on the bed he assumes is hers. They kiss slowly and calmly until Raven walks in.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Octavia's party is gonna be next chapter! I hope you're excited! ;)


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's the big day! Time for Octavia's party!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The first bit of this is filler, but trust me, it gets interesting.

“Oh, I’m sorry, am I interrupting something?” Raven asks as she walks in on Clarke straddling Bellamy’s lap. A blush blooms on Clarke’s face as she climbs off of Bellamy and onto the bed beside him. Bellamy stands up and offers his hand to Raven.

“I don’t know that we’ve ever properly met.” Raven hesitantly takes the hand of the large and intimidating, ruggedly handsome figure in front of her. She takes back in her head when she said that first time in the Starbucks that he wasn’t attractive.

Clarke lays back on her bed while Bellamy gives Raven the low-down on Clarke’s condition. Clarke is warmed by the in-depth and thorough instructions he gives Raven, and the tone of his voice tells her that he really does care. But why wouldn’t he, right? He tells them he’ll return the wheelchair to the hospital later that night. He bids the girls goodbye with a kiss on Clarke’s cheek, and wanders off to his class.

“You want lunch?”

“Sure, what did you have in mind?”

“Wendy’s?”

“Okay, just let me get changed and clean up first.” When Clarke first stands up, there’s a surge of pain to her head and she has to stabilize herself on the wall. Once she shakes it off though, she gets around the dorm without much trouble.

 

The rest of the day is pretty low-key, as is the rest of the week. Clarke misses classes for the next few days, being able to focus on studying for only half an hour at a time. Her days trapped in the dorm are boring, and filled with horrible movies on Netflix. By Thursday she’s back to her classes, and by Friday she’s back to her regular studying regiment, beginning to pile on more and more hours as the days go on.

She calls Bellamy a few times during the week, but they decided together that they probably shouldn’t meet up on Friday night. The doctor said she shouldn’t do any strenuous physical activity for at least a couple weeks, and obviously sex falls under that category. Bellamy and Clarke only really meet up at the Starbucks a few times between that night she stayed over and the end of exam week. And as soon as exam week is over, it’s time for Octavia’s party.

 

The day of Octavia’s party is pretty hectic. The first thing on Clarke’s schedule is her Biology exam. Based on her ability to immediately come up with an answer for every question, she’s very confident that she passed it with flying colours. Then it’s her follow up appointment at the hospital. She’s pleasantly surprised when the doctor announces that she’s ready to have her cast taken off. A concussion specialist tells her that her recovery was one of the fastest she’s ever seen, and that she’s ready to participate in sports or strenuous physical activity. Everything in the day so far is a win for Clarke. When she gets back to the dorm Raven is dressed in sweatpants and a camisole, but looks like she’s preparing to leave.

“What have you been doing all day? I thought I told you we have appointments at the spa. We need to leave five minutes ago Clarke, get the fuck out.”

Clarke turns herself a full 180 degrees and exits the dorm. She has no recollection of any spa appointment. Clarke climbs into the passenger seat of her own car, tossing the keys to Raven without question. Once they start driving is when the questions come.

“What kind of appointment is this Raven?”

“Well I got a wicked fucking deal because the owner of this spa is a family friend. Alright so here’s the itinerary: legs wax at 1:00, Brazilian at 1:20, facial at 1:40, mani pedis at 2:10. And I got all of that shit for only 50 dollars each. What a steal eh?”

“You and your sales. Alright, then I guess we go back to the dorm for 3:00, we’ve got a couple hours of downtime, then dinner at 5:00, then we’ll be ready for quarter-to-8:00 to get to the party for 8:00.” Thankfully they don’t have to be out of their residence for another week, and the mess hall is open the whole time.

“You got it sister. Gosh I can’t remember the last time I got a wax. Probably nearly a year ago.”

“I get waxes all the time, I’m just too lazy to shave.”

“And that’s the difference between someone with money and someone without. Speaking of which, how the fuck do you figure Octavia can afford to throw a party?”

“I’m pretty sure her boyfriend Lincoln is throwing it for her. He’s working for some massive theatre corporation or something and I hear he makes mad cash. I also think he’s been in a couple movies. 20’s a weird number for a big party though, why wouldn’t you throw it for 21?”

“She’ll probably get one then too if they’re still hitched. Plus, I’ve heard drinking massive amounts of alcohol is way more fun when it’s illegal. When the rebellion is gone it feels a lot less cool. She probably wants an excuse to get pissed before it’s not a big deal anymore.”

Clarke nods and turns her head to look out the window. Suddenly, the thought that she is completely free to see Bellamy, to FUCK Bellamy, takes up a massive spot in her mind. Raven finally pulls up to the salon, but it takes Clarke a second to draw herself out of her daydream.

The girls divide into separate rooms for their waxing. Because the rooms are right beside each other though, they can hear exactly when a wax strip is being pulled off by the strings of curses that permeate the walls. And it only gets worse as the Brazilian starts. After regaining her composure, Clarke wraps herself in a robe and meets Raven out in the lobby. Their facials are in the same room.

Clarke shivers a bit when the thick green paste is applied to her face. It smells a bit like lime and a bit like aloe. Clarke lets herself sink deeper and deeper into a trance, being hugged by the chair and made drowsy by trickling fountains and soothing music. She’s amazed that it’s been a half hour when the cucumber slices are peeled off her eyes and the mask is peeled off her face.

Then it’s time for pedicures. Clarke watches Raven wriggle out of the corner of her eye while their feet are being pumiced. Raven has always been ticklish, but Clarke never was. And then the manicure. There isn’t much to do with Clarke’s nails, because they’re bitten down to the nub, but Raven gets French tips. Clarke’s nail polish is a subtle green to go with the pastel pink of her dress.

They get back to the dorm at 3:30. The hour and a half passes quickly, Raven and Clarke getting completely wrapped up in a meaningless discussion. It’s wings night in the mess hall, the girls knowing from last year that the meals tend to be far lower quality in the week after the semester ends.

After dinner they spend nearly an hour doing each other’s hair and make-up. By the time they’re completely cleaned up, dressed, and accessorized, it’s 7:30. They leave at 7:45.

When they get to the party, the atmosphere is a lot different than they’d thought it would be. It’s a lot less light, bubbly, and fun, and a lot more exclusive and serious feeling. Thankfully they remembered to bring their invitations, because they had to show them at the door in order to get in. The first thing they do is get drinks, knowing that it may well be a long night. Raven gets a margarita, specifically asking for two umbrellas instead of one, and Clarke gets a rum and coke. They both scan the crowd, praying to catch eyes with someone they know. Raven sees something and grabs Clarke’s wrist, dragging her across to the other side of the club.

“Clarke, these are Nathan, Monroe, and Harper, some buddies from engineering. Nathan, Monroe, and Harper, this is my roommate Clarke.”

They all exchange pleasantries and chat for a while about nothing. When the lights go lower and the music gets louder, they all know that something is going to happen. They turn their heads to where spotlights are hitting the stage, just as Octavia sashays out from behind some curtains. With a first look at her, Clarke concludes that the Blake gene pool is far too powerful. The first thing Clarke notices is Octavia’s boobs. The dress is a halter style, which pulls her breasts up from over top as well as push from underneath. The bodice is tight down to her hips, where there’s a small poof, which makes her legs look incredibly long. Raven elbows Clarke because she’s staring.

“Welcome everyone! I’m so honoured that you could all come. Here are the ground rules before we get this show on the road. 1. If clothes start coming off, you will be kicked out. 2. If you are in the wrong bathroom, you will be kicked out. 3. If you throw up anywhere but in the toilet, you will be kicked out. Bar is open until 11, starts costing money from there on. Party ends at 1:00AM. Don’t you fucking dare harass anyone or I’ll personally kick your face in. I guess that’s it, have fun.”

Octavia jumps off the stage into Lincoln’s arms as the music starts blaring louder and louder. Raven has to yell to be heard over the music:

“I think we need some more to drink!”

Clarke nods, not thinking it worth it to yell just to offer confirmation, and lets Raven drag her over to the bar. They each get strawberry daiquiris after Clarke loses an argument with her sweet tooth.

They dance and chat with random people they vaguely recognize for about an hour, that being easier to do the drunker and drunker they get. They both get hit on by random guys countless times, and Clarke will never get tired of telling people that she has a boyfriend. She’s said it to people before, even when she wasn’t hitched, but it feels good to say it and be telling the truth. A song that neither of them want to dance to comes on, so Clarke turns to Raven:

“Maybe we should go talk to Octavia.” She yells.

“She looks pretty busy to me.”

“She’s gonna be talking to people all night, we should get over there and get in line or something. I don’t want it to look like I was avoiding her tonight. I really need to look good in front of her for Bellamy.”

“Yeah, key word in that sentence being ‘I’. Raven, on the other hand, is going to go talk to her engineering friends because her Octavia quota is full for the next, how long now? Oh, right, forever.” Clarke can’t help but laugh at Raven’s sassiness.

Clarke sighs and slinks through the crowd away from her friend. Octavia is facing away from her, and talking to someone who Clarke doesn’t recognise in the slightest. She gets close enough to Octavia that she can hear the conversation.

“So how’s Bellamy doing then? I don’t think I’ve seen him since your dad’s 50th.”

“Yeah. Bellamy’s doing pretty well.”

“You seem to have really lucked out finding this Lincoln guy. Bellamy got anyone?” Clarke’s ears perk up, because she knows that Octavia is about to talk about her.

“Yeah, actually, he’s been dating this girl called Clarke for about a month now.”

“Oh yeah? How is she?”

“Oh I can’t stand the bitch. But he seems to be happy so I’ll keep my nose out of it for now. I don’t think it will last so it’s okay.”

“Oh really? That’s too bad. Does it look like things are going south?”

“Like I said, he seems to be pretty happy, but I’m sure he’ll get sick of her soon enough. She’s a major smartass and really uptight. I don’t know how he deals with all of her shit.”

Clarke has heard enough. She burrows through the crowd in search of Raven, tears already introducing themselves to her eyes. She finds Raven and grabs her wrist hard.

“What is it?”

“Bathroom. Now.”

Raven lets herself be dragged through the crowd, confused about what’s going on. She gets to the bathroom where it’s better lit, and notices the streaks of black down Clarke’s face.

“Fuck, what happened? Did the bitch say something to you? Do I need to give her a black eye? Spill.”

Clarke relays the conversation back to Raven, word for word, choking back a sob every so often. Raven wraps Clarke tightly in her arms and rocks her back and forth. It’s hard for her to be comforting though, with the constant soundtrack of drunk girls vomiting.

“If she tells Bellamy that she doesn’t like me, what will happen?”

“Well I think if it’s meant to be, it won’t matter to him. He’ll only let it come between you if he’s an asshole, in which-case it would be a good thing if you broke up.”

“But he spends so much time with her sister, he loves her so much. I feel like it’ll drive a wedge into it if we can’t be in the same room together. And fuck. I thought things with Octavia and I were going so well.”

“If he really likes you Clarke, he’ll find a way around it. And if both of you girls like Bellamy, you’ll find a way to be in each others’ presence without shooting each others’ heads off.”

“You’re right. And there’s no way that this could make things bad between Bellamy and Octavia, right? I know how much he needs her.”

“I don’t really know his situation hun, but it will all play itself out if it’s supposed to. Don’t let yourself get all worried about it.”

Clarke breathes out an exaggerated sigh, and wraps her friend back up in her arms.

“We need to get you out of here.” Raven concludes.

“Agreed.”

Both girls are grateful that the trek from the bathroom to the door is short. There’s barely any crowd to push through, and they manage to escape without raising any eyebrows.

“We’re drunk.” Clarke states.

“Fuck. Wait, you know what, Harper owes me a favour and she doesn’t drink. Be right back.”

Raven runs as fast as she can in her four inch heels back into the building. She returns with a very angry looking Harper. Harper climbs into the driver’s seat of her own car, Clarke and Raven both ducking into the back. She takes the girls home, giving them a split second to get out of the vehicle before speeding away. The girls climb up the stairs to their dorm and lay themselves back on their respective beds.

Even though it wasn’t Raven who was being talked about behind her back, she’s glad to be home. Clarke begins to change in the corner of the room, but piques Raven’s interest when she changes into a pair of jeans and a sweater as opposed to pajamas.

“Where are you going?” Raven asks.

“I’m going to go get fucked.”

“Clarke, no. You’re drunk. You can’t drive to Bellamy’s house, and even if you could get there, do you really think you should?”

Clarke breaks down into a ball of tears on the floor. Raven sits down beside her and strokes her back, feeling bad for being the buzzkill, but also knowing that it was unsafe and reckless to go to Bellamy’s house drunk.

“Why don’t you fuck him tomorrow Clarke. You shouldn’t do this when you’re drunk. Don’t you want your first time with him to be special?”

Clarke sniffles and wipes her nose on the sleeve of her sweater. Raven leans her head on Clarke’s shoulder and rubs her opposite arm.

“Get your pajamas on. Let’s watch a movie.” She whispers.

Clarke gets up and strips out of her jeans and sweater. She throws on a pair of sleep shorts and Bellamy’s t-shirt. She curls up beside Raven on her bed, who has already gotten the movie all set up.

“Oh my God Raven, why are we watching a rom-com?”

“Trust me, you’ll love it.”

10 minutes into the film Clarke is already intrigued. On the screen, there’s a brutally muscular man wearing absolutely nothing and using a tea-towel to cover his junk.

“Oh my God, is that Captain America?” Clarke asks.

“Yesiree. Ah Chris Evans, nothing against Wick, but I could ride that man into the sunset holy shit.”

“I would like to second that.” Clarke chimes. They laugh hard, and avert their attention back to the screen. Clarke is all too drunk and all too distracted by naked Chris Evans to stay hung up on the unfortunate occurences of the evening. They watch the movie to the end, and start it up a second time, both falling asleep less than a half hour in.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise you guys I don't hate Octavia. I love Octavia to bits, I just need someone to be the villain to drive the plot and I thought O would be the best bet. So sorry :(


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bellamy and Clarke go out for a date and then...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's the moment you've all been waiting for! (smut)

Clarke wakes up as the small spoon, which is funny because she’s definitely a lot larger than Raven. Her head is sore, so she’s thankful the lights are off, and dreadful of what will happen if they get turned on. She clumsily grovels into the bathroom, and throws up. She splashes her face with water and brushes her teeth. A borderline violent groan coming from the dorm means that Raven is awake.

“Good morning sunshine.” Clarke says, walking into the bedroom.

“What’s so good about it?”

“Nothing. Literally nothing at all. I need coffee.”

“Do you figure they’ll have some in the mess?”

“I think that might only be during the school year, but I can check.”

“If not, we’ll have to make a Starbucks run.”

“Bellamy doesn’t start til noon.”

“And what time do you think it is, Clarke?”

Clarke turns on her phone, sending a surge of pain to her brain from the bright screen. The clock reads 12:48.

“Well they definitely don’t have coffee in the mess at quarter-to-1:00. Looks like Starbucks it is.”

“Fuck.”

“What is it?”

“Your car is still out at the club.”

They work out amongst themselves that their best bet is to get a cab to the club, then drive to the Starbucks. As much as it would be a better plan to get a friend to drive them up, Raven already cashed in her favour from Harper, and Bellamy’s working.

Taking more effort than it probably should, they both throw on the comfiest, most effortless clothes they can find. Clarke calls the cab company with her phone, wincing at the loud voice that comes through into her ear. They’re at the Starbucks at 1:45.

“Well somebody’s hungover.” Bellamy says as they reach the front of the line.

“Tell me about it.”

“BlakeShake for the princess?” He asks with a coy smirk, which Clarke does not come even close to returning.

“Black dark roast, stat.” She deadpans.

“Make that two.”

“Okay, somebody is excessively hungover. This is why I told Octavia she shouldn’t have an open bar. Anyway, two lovely ladies this hungover shouldn’t have to pay for their own coffees, let me get that.”

Clarke, having none of Bellamy’s shit, places a five dollar bill on the table and makes her way down to the end of the counter to pick up her coffee.

Raven and Clarke make their way to a table in the corner by the window, and begin to sip their coffees. They wince after every sip, but it’s worth the disgustingly bitter taste because immediately they start to feel more energized. Then Clarke feels her stomach growl.

“We haven’t eaten.” She states.

“Go get me a sandwich.” Clarke rolls her eyes, but does it anyway. She looks into the food case and decides on some things that she and Raven would like.

“I’m gonna date the shit out of you tonight beautiful girl.” Bellamy says as Clarke approaches the counter.

They agree to go to Murphy’s again, simply because Clarke’s lasagna cravings are skyrocketing off the charts. She collects herself and gets back to the matter at hand.

“Give me two of those turkey croissant things. And a blueberry muffin.”

He punches everything into the cash register, and gives her her food. He offers to pay yet again, and she shuts him down yet again. At this point she doesn’t understand why he keeps offering.

“Do you figure we’ll finally catch a break tonight?” He asks.

She knocks her fist on the counter, a superstition she started when she was younger and shows no signs of shaking: “I sure hope so.”

 

He meets her in the lobby of her residence. She’s wearing jeans and a camisole with a cardigan, having already used all of her good dresses.

“You look good.” He says, giving her a kiss between her eyebrows.

“You don’t look too bad yourself.”

They’re greeted by the same excruciatingly blond hostess at the restaurant, and sat down with no wait. Their lasagnas come and go, and they pass up on the cheesecake this time. Clarke’s hands become more and more sweaty the closer they get to Bellamy’s house.

She’s latched herself onto him before he’s even got them in the door, sucking on the pulse point on his neck and making it very hard for him to get the key in the door. Getting up the stairs is even harder. He slams the door behind them and shoves her hard against it. He lets out a yelp as she bites on his neck, then she laves it over with her tongue and gets back to sucking.

He starts pushing the cardigan off of her, forcing her to unloop each arm from his neck as he pushes the sleeve down it. Her nails scrape across his scalp as he begins to pull the camisole out of her jeans. The camisole is discarded without a thought, and he uses the advantage of her having to take her mouth off of him to make it to her lips.

The desperation in her kiss is unmistakable. Her breath comes in hot and fast, interspersed with gasps because she keeps forgetting to breathe. He nibbles on her bottom lip while she makes quick work of the buttons of his shirt. He unwraps his arms so she can push it to the floor. She traces her fingers over the chords of muscle in his back and arms, he spreads his flat palms out on her back and drags them upwards until he comes to the hinge of her bra. It falls to the floor, forgotten about immediately.

“Bed.” Clarke begs with a hot breath into his mouth.

He practically throws her onto his bed, her head nearly hitting the board at the end of it. He comes in over top of her and slides his tongue all the way from her navel to the junction of her clavicles, slowing down in the area between her breasts. He meets her mouth for a quick peck, before making his way down to the peak of her left breast. He flicks the nipple with his tongue.

“Stop. Teasing. Me.” She says, with her fingertips already dug into the duvet. As he bites down, she takes larger chunks of blankets into her hands and screams his name. Causing a positive reaction in his pants, he takes the entire pink part of her breast into his mouth to suck, hoping for the same result. When she only lets out shallow moans, he moves on to the other breast, giving it completely equal treatment. He doesn’t hear his name again on the bite, but he’s determined to pull it out of her again before the night is over.

Their mouths come back together and he pulls her to a seated position. They fiddle with each other’s belts and buttons and flies, both squirming out of their pants once they’re undone. He lays her back down and places a hand between her legs. He’s not surprised that her panties feel like they’ve just come out of the washing machine. He pushes the fabric aside and slides one finger up between her folds, lingering on her clit for just a second before taking another stroke. She whines into his mouth for more, and he gives it to her, plunging a finger in as far as it will go. She digs her fingertips into the back of his ribcage as he slides a second finger into her warmth and begins pulsing in and out. She can’t help herself but grind her hips against his hand.

When the third finger makes its way in is when he hears his name again, but not as much in a scream as in an exasperated sigh. His thumb makes its way over to her clit, releasing a string of swears as the shock spreads across her body. She bites down on his lip hard, causing it to bleed, so he decides he’s going to pull his mouth away before it gets worse. He pulls his hand out of her, warranting a groan of disapproval, but then a squeak of excitement as his face moves down her body with a string of kisses.

He braces himself on the bed and takes the fabric of the waistband of her panties between his teeth. Her hips lift off the bed, making it easier to drag the lacy garment over her ass and down her legs. He abandons it at her ankles and she kicks it off and onto the floor. He brings his face up between her legs, and takes a good bite at the skin of her inner thigh as payback for making his lip bleed. He’s proud of the yelp it drags out of her throat. He takes a good lick between her folds, causing her to squirm and giggle a little. He lingers on her clit for one good suck, but has really had enough of pleasuring just her and thinks it’s time for him to be selfish.

“Princess, get me a condom out of the bedside table.”

Excitedly, she reaches into the drawer. She tosses him a packet which he receives in stride, pushing down his boxers and sliding it on. He lays himself back overtop of her, teething her earlobe and pinning her wrists to the bed above her head. He nudges her entrance teasingly, soliciting an impatient groan, before sliding in completely to solicit a strangled scream which may have supposed to have been his name.

Her entire body wraps around him. Legs locking around his waist and nails clawing into the back of his shoulders. The feeling of all eight of his inches inside of her is a sensation that she didn’t know she could feel. Their lips meet sloppily and wet, no finesse in their kisses at all. It’s obviously not what they’re most focused on. She cants her hips up into him as he slowly pulls out and pushes back in.

“Oh my God Bellamy, please go faster.” And he does. Their hips crash together over and over with an intensity that they know will leave them both walking funny the next day. She sticks her chin in the crook of his neck while he bites the skin by the end of her mandible. He nibbles hard and long, and she knows he’s creating a hickey that will match the one she gave him earlier that night. His thrusts become more and more deliberate, and she can feel her climax coming.

She pleads his name over and over increasingly desperate with each repetition, increasing his energy exponentially to hear her beg for him. With one last clash of the hips, it starts. She roars as she feels the orgasm rip through her, and Bellamy moans as he feels her warmth surround him. And it pushes him over too. She feels him halt with a shudder, and lay more of his pressure on top of her. She whimpers as he pulls out and rolls over beside her on the bed. He breathes out a huff.

“That was the best I’ve had in a long time, Bellamy Blake.”

“Not the best you’ve ever had?”

“Maybe. It’s definitely up there,” She pauses to think.

“Hearing you say my name. Good God Clarke the things that did to me.”

“I’m so glad we finally got around to that. I’d say it was worth the wait.” He turns his head toward her and places a kiss on her shoulder. He gets out of bed to dispose of his condom and clean himself up a little before climbing back into bed with her. She nudges herself closer to him on the bed, causing the edges of their bodies to overlap. With a bend of her elbow, she works her fingers into his completely tousled sex-hair, turning his head to face her.

They stare into each others eyes, both noticing at the same time that their rings of iris are miniscule compared to the massive black pupils. They keep their faces like that, lips being close enough to fit into each other at any second, but not necessarily needing to. They rub their noses against each others’, giggling like little children.

“Bell,” She whispers.

“What is it princess.”

“At your sister’s party last night, I overheard her talking to someone she knew. This girl, she was asking about you, asking if you had a girlfriend or anything. Octavia started telling her about me, and it really wasn’t good things.”

Bellamy sighs, a look of disappointment crossing his face: “She thinks I can’t read her, but I’ve known her for her whole life. I know exactly what goes on in that little head of hers. I was pretty sure I knew about that, but I kept denying it because I knew if it was true it really would get in the way. I’m so sorry Princess. She might not like you, but I sure as hell do.” He pecks her lips.

“So you’re not upset about it?”

“Of course I’m upset about it. And it shakes me to my bones that my two favourite girls may not be able to get along. But I know that if she loves me, she’ll try to be pleasant around you. And I know that she loves me, so I know that she’ll try her best.”

“That’s a lot like what Raven was saying. It’s definitely a lot more comforting coming from you though.” He rubs her hip with the arm that is squished underneath her and is starting to fall asleep. He bends his elbow so that she rolls into him, and he slides his arm up around her neck so his circulation can come back.

“I have to leave my dorm in five days Bellamy.” She murmurs into his chest.

“We don’t have to think about this now. We’ll talk about it in the morning.” She can tell he wants sleep, so she just leaves him to it.

 

After the night before, she doesn’t mind waking him up with lazy morning kisses. From their lunch at Lee’s, she remembers Octavia saying that he’s hard to wake up, but that doesn’t stop her. After about ten short kisses, he’s finally pulled out of his sleep. A confused look crosses his face, but it quickly disappears when he realises what’s happening, and he grabs her face to keep it going. The kisses get longer and sweeter as they go on, Bellamy becoming more and more awake and present with each collision of their lips.

They roll out of bed and into the shower, neither of them needing to take any clothes off as they’re already completely naked. In the shower is where they assess the damage. Bellamy has quite the nasty hickey on his pulse point, the back of his ribcage is patterned with fingertip-shaped-bruises, and the back of his shoulders is covered in scratches. His lips is swollen from being bitten through. Clarke has a bruise on the inside of her thigh from where he bit her, and a hickey at the curve of her jawbone. Bellamy certainly took more of a beating than she did.

“As I was saying last night Bellamy, I have to go up north in five days.”

“Princess, be patient, we’ll do this over coffee.”

She can’t help but agree with him, knowing that they’re both far too tired to have this conversation rationally. They clean each other quickly, dabbing small kisses to bruises or scratches that present themselves.

Bellamy scrounges around in the cupboards and the fridge, looking for something that they could possibly eat for breakfast.

“Did I see frosted flakes?” Clarke calls, catching a glimpse of the blue packaging with the orange figure from the dining room table.

“Yeah, I’ve got those, mini-wheats, apple jacks, and like half a bowl’s worth of lucky charms.”

“What kind of mini-wheats you got?”

“Just classic frosted.”

“Nice, hit me up.”

He pours her a heaping bowl of mini-wheats, and himself half a bowl of lucky charms and half a bowl of frosted flakes. He places all three bowls on the table, along with two mugs of coffee and a carton of milk.

“Am I allowed to talk now?” She asks, pouring milk into her cereal.

He takes a sip of his coffee, then looks her in the eyes: “Okay, now.”

“So what are we gonna do about the summer?”

“Well I get two weeks of vacation between May and August. I usually waste them, so it would probably be nice to spend them with you.”

“Are you inviting yourself over to my house?” Bellamy makes a face that she interprets as apologetic, so she expands, “Because if you are that’s totally okay. I’m sure my parents won’t mind at all. I could also spend a week with you up here if you want, you come down one week I come up one week?”

“If you don’t mind, I’d prefer to come down both weeks. This place is gross, there’s no reason for you to need to come here.”

“Alright, then it’s settled. What weeks do you figure you’ll take?”

“I’m thinking the first week of June and the first week of August, but I’ve gotta make sure there’s no schedule conflicts. I’ll get it all sorted out today.”

“Speaking of which, don’t you start at noon today?”

“Now that the semester is over the schedules are changing. I don’t start until two today, and this is my last Sunday shift until September. And my weekday shifts are changing from 3:00-7:00 to 1:00-6:00.”

“Well in that case-” She pushes their bowls and mugs to the side of the table and climbs up over top of it. She lifts a hand to guide his face so that their lips meet. The kiss isn’t desperate like they were last night, this kiss is truly romantic, truly passionate. There’s a smooth glide instead of a rough drag. He pulls her off the table and onto his lap, carrying her up to his room while she giggles into his mouth.

They curl up in the bed, intertwining their legs. There are intermittent kisses, but they mostly look into each other’s eyes and explore each other with soft touches. Clarke discovers that Bellamy is ticklish and Bellamy discovers that Clarke is not. Her favourite place though, she decides, is his cheekbone, which she spends more than enough time grazing with the tips of her fingers. And he likes to kiss her eyelids, because he knows how it got her heart going when they were in the hospital. They whisper and hum to each other, telling each other stories that they both know the other isn’t listening to. When Bellamy speaks, she just looks at the glints in his eyes. When he gets excited his eyes turn from muddy to amber, and she uses their changes to mimic his emotions. Her eyes don’t change in colour so much as they do in size. The more excitement there is the wider they open.

The whole time she goes on, all he wants to smash their lips together. But he resists, because he knows that a good boyfriend listens, and interrupting is rude. It’s her who smashes their lips together in the middle of one of her own sentences. They both forget what she was saying anyway, it obviously wasn’t important.

It’s quarter-to-2:00 before they know it.

 

 


	12. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Raven moves out of the dorm, then some more smut, then Clarke and Bellamy have a romantic night together

Clarke starts packing when she gets back to the dorm, leaving aside things that she knows she’ll need in the next five days, but putting away things like books and her desk lamp and her backpack. She always like to get a head-start on packing, she really hates leaving anything to the last minute. Just as she’s folding up Bellamy’s t-shirt to put in her ‘I’ll need this in the next five days’ pile, something dawns on her. Bellamy is coming home with her. He’s coming back to her house. She’ll be with him all day every day for two different weeks. Is she ready for that? Are they ready for that? She knows she doesn’t want to spend the whole summer without seeing him, but she also knows that they haven’t been dating for very long and maybe living together in the same house for a week on-end is a little drastic.

Her breathing and heart rate speed up and tears start pricking her eyes. At first confused by the wetness in her eyes, she realises she’s having a panic attack. She hasn’t had one since the near beginning of first year. She manages to send Raven an SOS text before the attack completely consumes her. She lays on the floor, tears leaking from her face, gasping for air, hands clutching to anything they can grasp.

The door bursts open and Raven sees Clarke practically writhing on the floor, choking sobs and gasping for air. Raven immediately kneels down beside her friend and sits her up, She wraps her arms tight around her and pats her back. Clarke used to have panic attacks quite often during and after the conundrum with Finn, so Raven knows her way around one. Having learned the hard way, she knows that Clarke is going to puke and she helps her to the bathroom. Once she’s done, Raven helps Clarke to her bed and sits down beside her.

“Clarke, what’s happening? This hasn’t happened in over a year. What could’ve possibly happened to trigger that?” She rubs circles in Clarke’s back out of habit, without even realising it.

“I-I” She stutters, “I invited Bellamy to come back home with me for a couple weeks in the summer.”

“Well that’s a good thing isn’t it? You guys are moving so fast, this is such a positive step in the relationship.”

“You don’t think we’re moving too fast? It’s only been just over a month Raven. But I didn’t even have to think about it, it just came out so naturally.”

“Well if it was a natural thing, then it can’t be bad. What are you so worried about?”

“I’m worried that if we move too fast it’s gonna blow up in our faces.”

“Well, I know you’re really not a fan of Octavia right now, but when we went out to Lee’s she said something that I think will really help you get over this hurdle. She said the last girl that Bellamy got serious with, he was far too into far too fast, which ended up with him getting his heart broken. She said he hasn’t trusted anyone since, before you. If he’s been hesitant in relationships before, but has no hesitation with this, it means he’s in for the long-run girl. He wouldn’t let himself get this invested in you this fast if he wasn’t serious. I mean he might not even be thinking that much about it, but if he’s naturally this lax around you it means he’s in deep.”

“Oh fuck Raven. Oh fuck you’re right.” Tears brim in Clarke’s eyes again, she wraps her arms around Raven as tight as she can until Raven taps out on Clarke’s shoulder.

“So what else happened last night?”

A smirk crosses Clarke’s face. Raven’s mouth drops open.

“You finally did it, didn’t you?” She flails her hands and places them on Clarke’s knees. She stares into Clarke’s eyes, “I need details.”

“Gross?”

“Oh come on, nothing too graphic, just a general storyline. How was it? Was it good? How did it feel to have eight inches inside of you?”

A red bloom crosses Clarke’s skin: “Probably the best guy I’ve ever had.”

“So not the best period?”

“Lesbians really know their way around a vagina, Raven. I know firsthand that it’s way easier for someone to fuck the parts they have. I’m way better at vaginas. But I guess this is TMI,” Clarke gets a little ahead of herself sometimes when talking about sex with girls. She knows Raven doesn’t care to hear about lady-parts, just dick. Clarke changes paths, giving Raven just enough run through of the night  before’s events to satisfy her completely perverted curiosity.

“Let’s talk about you now. When are you and Wick leaving for the cottage?”

“We’re leaving tomorrow at 6:00PM, we’re grabbing dinner on the road. I used to be nervous but now I’m not. Wick and I have been dating for too long to be worried about spending too much time together.”

“Yeah, you two are so in love, don’t even worry about it. Knowing you, I’m going to assume that you haven’t started packing at all yet.”

“Well I guess I should probably start now. Wanna help?”

“I don’t want to, but I will, because I’m a good friend.” Raven rolls her eyes and starts getting her suitcases out of the closets. It takes them nearly two hours, but they manage to get everything that Raven doesn’t need for tomorrow all put away in her suitcases.

“I guess I’m gonna have this place to myself for the next few days.” Clarke states.

“If you don’t fuck him in here I’m gonna be very disappointed.”

“Maybe I’ll do that tonight.” Clarke tries her best to wink.

“Please!” That was not the reaction that Clarke thought she would get, but knowing Raven she still isn’t surprised.

“In your dreams Raven.”

“Every night.” They laugh, laying themselves down on the floor. Clarke knows that she’ll really miss this over the summer.

“I think we need one last movie night, Raven.”

“Alright, after dinner.” After checking the time to make sure the mess is open, the two go down to eat their dinner.

It’s Clarke’s turn to pick the movie, so she convinces Raven to let her download Kickass. Clarke is hooked right from the beginning, but it takes Raven about a half hour to get really interested.

“Who is this guy? His ass is a treasure.” Raven asks.

“I think his name is Aaron Johnson. He’s in this other movie I’ve seen called Nowhere Boy and you see his bare ass in it. He really is a work of art.”

“Bitch, okay, we’re watching that movie after this one.”

“Well we have to watch Kickass 2 first.”

“Fuck, there are two of these things? It is gonna be a long-ass night miss Griffin.”

And it is. They finish Kickass 1 and go directly into Kickass 2. Clarke laughs at Raven squirming when they show Aaron Johnson without his shirt. She makes them watch the same scene about eight times. And then they watch nowhere boy, and watch the ass scene at least 12 times. By the time Nowhere Boy is over, they’re completely movie’d out and on the verge of falling asleep.

“I’m really gonna miss you over the summer Raven.”

“Not as much as I’ll miss you,” She kisses her friend on the nose, “We gotta make sure to skype like five times a week, okay? I don’t know how I’ll get through three months of just WIck without it.”

“It’s a deal.”

 

Raven is completely moved out by 6:00PM the next day, just as she said she would be. Clarke calls Bellamy as soon as she’s gone, but remembers that he gets off work at 6:00 and is probably driving home. At 6:20 Clarke gets a call from Bellamy.

“You’re speaking with the most beautiful girl on the planet, how can I help you?” She hears Bellamy pull the phone away from his face to laugh.

“You called me earlier while I was driving. Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, everything’s fine, I just wanted to talk to you.”

“About what Princess?”

“I have a proposition.”

“I’m sorry Princess, I’m a little occupied with school and work right now, I don’t have the time or money to get married.” Clarke laughs at how he turned her own joke back on her.

“Okay, but I’m serious.”

“Alright, shoot.”

“The idea of us living together for a week is pretty daunting to me, so I’m going to propose that since I’m leaving in a few days, we have a practice go at it?”

“That’s a really good idea, my place or yours?”

“Well I’m thinking since I’ve gotta pack up and move out of here anyway, it wouldn’t make sense to have you pack your stuff up too.”

“Alright, that just means you’re gonna have to live with me and three other guys, but as long as you’re okay with that, it’s cool.”

“I haven’t seen one of your roommates since the first day I stayed over, I think I’ll be okay.”

“Would you like me to come over and help you pack up?”

Before she’s even responded, he hangs up. She knows he’s coming, so she changes her underwear. She will keep her promise to Raven.

 

It’s quite an intimate feeling to have someone go through all of your possessions. And Bellamy doesn’t rush either, he takes good time analysing each separate piece of clothing before folding it up and fitting it into a suitcase. The first slightly odd piece of clothing he comes across is a bright pink bra with green polka-dots. He wonders what she could possibly wear that under. Then he comes across a massive plaid button-down which he can only assume is her dad’s. He comes across a few other things that he laughs about in his head, but doesn’t bother breaking Clarke’s concentration with. The last item he comes across is something that he can’t help but joke with her about, though. He holds out a pair of cotton panties at full arm’s extension in front of his face, the ass part facing himself. She notices and looks over to him, crooking a confused eyebrow as to why he finds them so fascinating. When he rotates the panties, she loses it. Displayed in a heart shape with an arrow through it across the butt of the panties is the phrase ‘I want you’.

“Screw lacy lingerie Clarke, I have a hard-on already and I haven’t even seen you in these. Why spend money on the fancy stuff when you could just buy ten pairs of these to get all the dick your little heart desires?”

Clarke is in hysterics by this point, putting her hand out to accept the underwear as he tosses them to her. She pretends to pack them into the suitcase that she’s working on, but instead manages to sneak them into the kangaroo pocket of her hoodie.

Just as Bellamy is packing the last of her clothes away in his suitcase, she slinks into the bathroom to freshen herself up. She sprays herself with perfume, brushes her teeth, and lets her hair down to cascade in a wave over her shoulders. She walks out to see him about to take the sheets off her bed.

“Don’t strip the bed just yet.” She says.

“Why not?”

“We’re going to strip other things first.”

He catches her drift, and plops himself down on her bed, warranting a questioning eyebrow from Clarke.

“You’re going to do one of those strip dances that you’ve told me so much about.” He demands.

Although it wasn’t on her agenda, she goes along with it. A kangaroo hoodie, however, is a very difficult thing to take off sexily. She begins with a sway of her hips as she crosses her arms and begins to pull the hoodie up as slowly as physically possible. She bares one inch of her stomach at a time, revealing a white mesh bra that her nipples are completely visible through. Once the hoodie is over her head, she whips it forcefully at the wall. She pops the hinge of her bra, but cups her breasts before it manages to fall to the floor. She turns her back to him, and drops her bra to gather in a clump at her feet. Her ass sways in front of his face while she works open the fly of her shorts, and she bends completely in half to push them down. Bellamy, who before was thoroughly engrossed in Clarke’s sexy strip dance, is now curled up in a ball on the bed radiating laughter that she knows can be heard five dorms down. Instead of the completely bare ass he thought he would see, he was instead presented with the ‘I Want You’ panties that he had laughed about just moments before.

He pulls Clarke out of her doubled over laughing state and into his lap. As soon as his arms lift she has his t-shirt up and over his head. Their chests come flush together, and her she fits her lips on to his. He lifts her up and he turns to squeeze her against the wall, she undoes his pants and shoves them to the floor. She finds his hardened shaft in his briefs and begins running her hand up and down it, bringing his moans hot and needy into her mouth. She drops to the floor for just long enough to get her panties off, then she’s back into his arms, continuing to pound out the same rhythm on his dick. Two fingers make their way into her easily, and he tries to align the speed of his pulses with the speed of hers. Once he begins to rub her clit with his thumb, her hand comes out of his pants so she can brace herself, digging her nails into his back. His name fills his ears over and over, filling him with a new strength and vigor that allows him to go faster and harder with each repetition. The back of her head hits the wall and her eyes roll back as he pushes her over the edge. Her feet come to the floor as he slides his completely soaked fingers out of her. Almost immediately, she drops to her knees and begins to rake her fingers down the sides of his legs, bringing his boxers down with them. She draws a wet line down the underside of his shaft.

“Clarke, you don’t have to do this.”

“No, it’s been all about me lately and I need you to be selfish. Let me blow you Bellamy Blake.”

“Clarke, you really don’t have to.”

“But I want to.” And with that she takes as much of him into her mouth as she can, tickling her gag reflex as she does it. She flattens her tongue against his length and drags her entire mouth toward the head, giving the end a flick as she drags her mouth off with a pop. Then she’s back down the shaft. Her fingers dimple the plush skin of his bare ass, to use as stability as she moves her head forward and back. More of him comes into her mouth suddenly, and she directs her gaze upward to see that he’s had to brace himself against the wall. Smugly, she begins to go faster, incorporating a round swishing motion with her tongue. She knows he’s coming close due to his increase in breathing rate, so she mentally prepares herself. After so many times, the novelty of swallowing has worn off, so once he’s done she goes to the washroom to spit in the sink. When she returns, he’s still braced on the wall and panting.

The bed sheets are peeled off and folded into a suitcase. They finish packing up and throw all the suitcases and boxes into Bellamy’s car. They both think that the other is pretending that they didn’t just fuck, so it goes unmentioned from then on. They have to take separate cars to Bellamy’s house, and Clarke is very angry when he shows up seven minutes after her with McDonalds sundaes. She’s thankful for the sundae at least, but she would’ve liked a bit of heads up that she was going to be abandoned in his driveway for seven minutes.

“I should probably make you a key if you’re gonna be living here.” He suggests.

Her heart thuds in her chest. Even while it’s common knowledge that she should have a key to the place that she’ll be living, it seems like a ridiculously large step that she’ll be able to come and go as she pleases.

“Wait, I might have a spare.”

He brings her up to his room and rifles through his bedside table. With a look of eureka on his face, he presents her with a small silver key. Cautiously, she squeezes it in her hand, confirming that she’s not just imagining it. She slips it onto the keychain in her purse, in the place of the one to her dorm that she just turned in to the residence office.

Their first night living together is relatively uneventful. They eat their sundaes on the couch while watching friends reruns, then get to bed by midnight. Bellamy really is a cuddler, spooning and intertwining legs being a go-to every time they sleep together.

 

The next day Bellamy has to leave Clarke alone in the afternoon to work. She manages to busy herself with her laptop, and runs a couple quick errands during the day. She reaches kid-on-Christmas-morning level excitement when she hears his key turn in the lock. All the roommates are tucked away in their own corners of the house, so she knows it has to be him. She throws herself into his arms and consumes his lips with her own as he opens the door.

“What have you been up to all day?” He asks when their lips disconnect, “Wait a second, what is that smell.”

An absolutely giddy grin crosses her face as she drags him into the dining room and pulls out his chair. She ducks into the kitchen, and yells at him to shut his eyes before she returns and places two plates at opposite place settings at the table. She sits down across from him and tells him to open his eyes.

In front of each of them sits a gorgeous salmon fillet drizzled with a light chipotle sauce, resting upon a mountain of lime and cilantro rice and surrounded by an assortment of steamed veggies. Clarke’s cheeks begin to hurt from smiling as she watches Bellamy gape at her dish. He tries to get each component of the meal onto his fork at once, resulting in a humongous bite that he struggles to chew. The corners of his mouth lift even with his cheeks full of food.

“And you say you can’t cook for shit.” He says, shoving another full fork into his mouth. She gets so caught up in watching him eat that she almost forgets to eat herself. In attempt to catch up to him she shovels bites into her mouth. She knows that Bellamy wasn’t lying just to make her feel good, her food really is delicious.

Once the dinner is over and the dishes are in the sink, it’s time for dessert.

“Meet me in the bedroom in two minutes.” She calls, taking all of the food upstairs.

Being completely consumed by curiosity, Bellamy wanders into his own bedroom to see his girlfriend laying sexily on the bed wearing just her bra and panties. Beside her on the bed she has a bowl of strawberries and a hot bowl of tempered chocolate. As a rite of admission, he strips to his boxers before joining her on the bed. The first strawberry is dipped by Clarke, but goes into Bellamy’s mouth. A streak of chocolate falls from the strawberry and onto his chin, so she licks it off for him. Both knowing all too well that it’s completely wrong to eat a chocolate covered strawberry out of your own hand, they continue to feed each other. They take occasional breaks to kiss the chocolate off of each other’s lips.

By the time they finish the strawberries, both the bed and their bodies are a chocolatey mess. A few of the streaks of chocolate on their bodies were put there on purpose, in attempt to get the other to lick it off. Which they do. They scour each other’s bodies with tongues, occasionally pretending that there’s a spot of chocolate that they need to suck to clean off. After their bodies are completely clean of chocolate, they’re still quite sticky and need to take a shower to finish the job.

They strip the bed and replace the chocolate-stained sheets, cuddling up to each other and watching a movie on Clarke’s laptop before peacefully lulling to sleep in each other’s arms. It’s after that night that Clarke knows the two of them will have no trouble living together at any time in the future.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I highly recommend all movies mentioned in this chapter


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bellamy's first time meeting Clarke's parents doesn't go quite as she'd planned.

Clarke’s first month and a bit back at home are pretty bland. She spends a lot of time at the hospital with her mom, doing odd jobs in order to bring in a little extra cash (that she really doesn’t need) and gain valuable experience for her future. She also spends a lot of time with Wells, they do a lot of catching up, and spend a lot of the first couple weeks revisiting places in town that they used to go a lot when they were younger. She skypes Bellamy and Raven constantly, sometimes doing three way calls allowing Bellamy and Raven to talk to each other more. The two of them have a lot in common, so Clarke is surprised that they haven’t started really talking to each other. Clarke’s mom and dad are busy a lot of the time, but she’s able to have family dinners with them most nights. It’s not until a week or two in that she brings up the prospect of having Bellamy over.

She’s immediately flooded with a barrage of questions. ‘How old is he?’ ‘How long have you two been together?’ ‘Is he smart?’ ‘Does he have a job?’ ‘Where did you meet?’ ‘How did you meet?’ ‘have you slept with him?’, all which she’s able to answer relatively quickly and relatively easily. It’s when the question ‘Do you love him?’ is popped that her heart starts pounding.

“No. I mean, I don’t think so. Kind of? Maybe? No. No I don’t. I mean I like him a lot, but I don’t quite love him.”

“And you think it’s appropriate to live with someone that you don’t love?” Her dad asks.

“I mean, it’ll only be for a week, and it’s not like we’ll be alone. And remember my roommate from first semester in year one? I sure as hell did not love her, but I was allowed to live with her.”

“But it’s different Clarke, you two weren’t dating, you two weren’t sleeping together.”

“Please dad, he’s already booked the week off work, and we already lived together for three days. In fact I have a key to his house,” She splays her keychain on the table, “Please dad, I really want you guys to get to know him, and like him, it’ll only be for a week and then he’ll be right back to his own house.”

“Okay, but there’s no way in hell that you two are sleeping in the same bedroom. He can take the guest room.”

“Oh thank you so much dad, thank you so much.” Even though it’s less than ideal to be sleeping in separate bedrooms, it’s better than having no Bellamy at all; and she knows it’s the best she’s going to get. She wraps her dad up in a tight hug and presses kiss after kiss onto his cheek. Clarke’s mom sends him a glance of approval, silently telling him that he made the right choice. She would be angry at him later though for not consulting her in the decision.

 

The days leading up to Bellamy’s arrival are very nerve wracking for Clarke. She cleans the guest bedroom every day in the week leading up to his visit, even though she knows that it’s already clean, and even if it wasn’t that Bellamy wouldn’t really care or notice. Her parents can tell how anxious she is too, they notice how much she cleans, not just in the guest room but the whole house. They know that that’s what she does when she’s nervous, and also know that she’s probably trying to keep the place in the best shape possible. They also notice that she’s chewed her lip to shreds, most likely in her sleep. She spends hours in her room researching recipes and restaurants and activities to do in the area, making sure that they always have something to do and that they’re never bored.

The day that he’s supposed to show up is the worst. She changes her outfit at least four times in the morning, trying to figure out what’s sexy enough that he’ll be even slightly turned on by it, but also understated enough that her parents will approve. In the hour before his arrival her pedometer says she paces 3000 steps.

When she hears a knock on the door, she immediately bounds as fast as she can down the stairs. She throws the door open, and after confirming for just a split second that it actually is him on the other side of it, she throws herself into his arms. His balance falters for just a second, but he manages to pop her up onto his hips so she can lock her legs around him. At first she just stares into his eyes, after not seeing him in person for so long she needs just to take him in. Her fingers lace in his hair and her thumbs brush his cheekbones. After a few seconds of wordlessly studying him, she fits her mouth to his. They break when they hear her dad clear his throat from the doorway.

“Bellamy,” Bellamy says offering his hand, “Bellamy Blake.”

“Jake Griffin,” Clarke’s dad takes Bellamy’s hand firmly, with one hard shake, “Wait, Blake? Like Octavia Blake?”

Clarke’s eyes open wide.

“How do you know my sister?”

“This little lady over here wouldn’t shut up about her in first year. She had quite the powerful crush on her.”

Clarke turns white as a sheet. Bellamy is speechless. Clarke runs upstairs to her bedroom and unleashes the steady stream of tears that had welled up in her eyes. After receiving Jake’s approval, Bellamy trails Clarke up the stairs and knocks on her door, letting himself in after eliciting no response.

She’s balled up in the corner with wet streaks down either cheek. She’s covered with teardrops which she didn’t care enough to wipe off. He wipes the ones that have accumulated under her eye with his thumb. His arm comes over her shoulder as he sits down beside her on the floor.

“Why are you so upset princess?”

“You’re not freaked out that I was hot for your sister?”

“I’m not going to lie to you Clarke, of course I’m a little freaked out. I’m sure there are only a couple guys on the planet that can say that their girlfriend crushed on their little sister first. But that being said it’s not anything that I’m going to judge you for. So what, you had a crush. I know that my sister is a pretty girl, and I know she’s your age, and I know you’ve had classes together, so why should it startle me that you were into her? It’s not like anything ever happened between you two, right?”

Clarke manages to choke out a no through her sobs.

“Well crushes are a completely natural thing Clarke, they happen to you whether you want them to or not. This is nothing to be ashamed of, it’s just a natural thing that seems to have caused a very interesting coincidence.”

“This isn’t- This isn’t how I wanted you to find out. This- this week was supposed to be so nice, so special, and right off the bat my dad says that and fucks it all up. I worked so fucking hard to make everything perfect, now look at this fucking mess.”

“Princess, nothing is fucked up. This isn’t going to change anything, okay.” He guides her chin upwards so that their lips meet. It starts very gingerly, because he’s not sure how sensitive Clarke is. She’s the one who makes it hotter. She’s the one who opens their mouth and sends her breath hot toward the back of his throat. She’s the one who works her hand under his shirt and brushes her thumb against the taut muscles of the V of his hips. She’s the one who lunges her tongue into his mouth as far back as it will go. And she’s the one who grabs his hand and guides it upward to cup her breast.

“God I missed you.” He murmurs.

“Shut up.”

Noticing his caution, she grabs the hand that’s resting on her breast and presses it in harder. He starts to massage her breast at the same pace that she makes circles on the roof of his mouth with the tip of her tongue. Then their mouths break apart and she starts gnawing at the skin of the base of his neck.

“Hey,” He starts, moving her face away from his neck so she can look in his eyes, “We’ll have plenty of time to do this this week, I think I should make a good first impression on your dad instead of coming downstairs after being at his house for 15 minutes with a big old hickey. As much as I’m loving this, we should probably go say hi to your family first.”

She lets out an exasperated sigh, but knowing he’s right composes herself and takes his hand to bring him downstairs. Her dad is on the couch when they reach the living room, and they sit on the couch across the room from him. He mouths a ‘sorry sweetie’ at her and she brushes it off. Jake gives Bellamy a good look over, noting the slightly tousled hair and slightly swollen bottom lip.

“So, Blake, what are your intentions with my daughter?”

Bellamy pauses and exchanges eyes with Clarke, not quite sure how to respond. After a few seconds of silence, Jake bursts into a fit of laughter. Bellamy eyes Clarke again, and they laugh awkwardly to humour her dad.

“Tell me a bit about yourself kid.”

“Alright, well I’m Bellamy Blake. I’m 22 years old and I work at Starbucks. I’m majoring in History, hoping to teach it at some point if I can afford to do another two years of teacher’s college after I graduate. I’ve got a younger sister, Octavia, who means the absolute world to me, and my dad lives down in Tennessee.”

“You get good grades?”

“Graduated high school with a 91% average sir. As long as I continue on the road I’m paving right now, I’ll get an honours degree.”

“Well my interrogation is finished. When Abby gets home I’ll let her have another go on you. But as far as I’m concerned you’re a pretty good kid.”

Clarke beams at Bellamy, almost like she’s surprised that he got off so easily. Really she’s just grateful that he passed the test at all. She waits for her dad to round the corner to press a light kiss to his lips.

“Let me show you to the guest room.”

They grab his bags out of his car and drag them up the stairs. She directs him to the room that she’d spent the last week making just right for him. All of his suitcases are put in the corner, and he sits on the queen sized bed that he’ll have all for himself for the next week. He rubs the comforter beside him, a gesture that asks for Clarke to sit down.

“You have a lovely home, miss Griffin.”

“I set this place up all special, just for you.”

“It’s really shit that I have to sleep alone this week. I like sleeping with you.”

“Don’t worry Bellamy, I’ve got scheduled time in the itinerary for fucking. It’s in the afternoon, when my parents aren’t home, but it will have to do.”

“Oh my goodness Clarke, you made an itinerary?”

“What can I say, I like to be prepared.” He reaches over to kiss the stupid grin off of her face, what he doesn’t take into account is the stupid grin on his own.

“Let me help you unpack.”

They go through his suitcases and put all his stuff in the closet. Because he only brought a week’s worth of stuff, there’s not really any clothing for Clarke to ridicule. There is, however, an industrial sized box of condoms, which after close analysis of the packaging, once contained 300. She giggles quietly and puts the box back into the suitcase, hoping her parents don’t find it if they come into the room. Fingers which come from above linger over her jaw, and she looks up to be met with Bellamy’s lips. It’s an awkward kiss, chins clashing against noses, and mouths stacked the wrong way, but it’s still sweet and cute nevertheless. She rotates on the spot to upright their kiss, and she stands up without breaking the contact of their mouths. They exchange kisses for a while, eventually ending up on the bed with legs tangled together.

The sound of the front door opening means that her mom is home. Clarke drowsily rolls out of bed and brings Bellamy along with her.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you Mrs. Griffin, you have a lovely home.” He’s met with a warm smile and a firm handshake.

“I’m gonna go change out of my scrubs, but Clarke has told me many nice things about you and I’m curious to talk to you. I’ll meet you in the living room in just a moment.”

Abby bounces up the stairs; Clarke and Bellamy sit on one of the couches in the TV room. He grabs her hand and runs his thumb over hers. Her head slides into the crook of his neck and she lets out a low purr as he rubs and squeezes her hand. Abby comes in wearing jeans and a New York Giants t-shirt, and sits at the couch across the room from them.

“So, Bellamy, where you from?”

She drills him with questions similar to that for what seems like ages. Clarke wonders how they could possibly help her mother assess whether he’d be a good boyfriend. When Bellamy mentions Octavia, Clarke’s stomach begins to feel uneasy. Just as she’d thought, her mom’s ears perk up at the name.

“Wait, you’re Octavia Blake’s brother?” She starts, “How funny is it that Clarke ended up with the wrong Blake! I mean not that you’re wrong Bellamy, it’s just that Clarke here absolutely pined after your sister for months! Imagine if she knew back then that she wouldn’t end up with Octavia, but instead she’d end up with her brother. I guess it really is a small world.”

Abby is completely ignorant to the fact that both Clarke and Bellamy are very uncomfortable. She continues: “Has she told you yet that your sister is the one that made her realize she wasn’t straight? I mean of course she had little girl-crushes on celebrities and such, but never did she have a crush on a real girl until she saw Octavia. It looks like the Blake’s are playing quite a massive role in Clarke’s life!”

Tears are pricking Clarke’s eyes, and she feels like she might be sick. And then the dizziness eases in, first slowly, then all at once, incapacitating her onto Bellamy’s lap.

 

Clarke has a wet cloth on her forehead when she wakes up. They didn’t move her from the couch, but Bellamy managed to squeeze out from under her. Voices are booming from the kitchen, so she slowly gets up to follow the sound.

“If it isn’t sleeping beauty!” Her dad chimes.

She sits down across from her boyfriend at the table, avoiding eye contact at all costs. A bowl of soups sits in front of her, and she takes a small taste of the broth. Her stomach really doesn’t feel like eating.

“You woke up just in time Clarke, we just put the soups on the table. We were waiting for you, but you didn’t show any signs of regaining consciousness and it was getting late.” Her mom explains.

“I don’t feel very hungry.” She mumbles.

“That’s quite alright my love, just eat anything you feel like.”

Her spoon drops into her bowl and she leaves the table. To her surprise, neither her mom or her dad pipe up. She buries her face in her pillow and she sobs.

 

A hand rests on her back about 20 minutes later. She curls her face out of her pillow, expecting to see Bellamy, but instead seeing her mom. Clarke’s face turns back into the pillow.

“Hey, Clarke, I’m sorry. I crossed a line. But we were talking to Bellamy about it at dinner and it says it doesn’t bother him. He said he’s already talked to you about this and you shouldn’t still be this hung up on it. That being said, that really wasn’t my information to give, and for that I am sorry. He’s in his room, I think you should go talk to him. Speaking of which, I approve.”

Clarke rolls groggily out of her bed, face completely swollen and red. The first thing she does is visit the bathroom. She splashes her face with cold water, which opens her eyes a bit, and then she scrubs it with cleanser hoping to alleviate the redness. It doesn’t work.

“Did you know you’re beautiful even when you’ve been crying for no reason?” He says when she enters the room. She turns to leave.

“No, Clarke, no. I’m sorry, that sounded better in my head. Come here.”

Reluctantly, she sits herself down on the side of his bed. He sits himself up so their eyes are level, and he grabs her hand. His thumb brushes over scars on her fingers and knuckles, and then he brushes over the same ones with his lips.

“I know you’re embarrassed Clarke. Let me tell you, I felt really uncomfortable there too. I’m willing, however, to write this off as a thing of the past. You’re not in first year anymore, whatever thing you had for Octavia is gone. If it was still going on, we may have a problem, but I’m not dating Clarke from first year, I’m dating Clarke now.”

She wraps her arms tight around his shoulders, and sticks her head into the crook of his neck. He pecks a kiss on the top of her head and rubs the small of her back. She angles her head upward and places a short sucking kiss on the curve of his jawbone. He turns his head down to meet her lips with his own. Her hands slide up from his shoulder and up into his hair. He turns his head and slants his lips so he’s in power of the kiss. He works hard and long kisses into her lips, and then leaves them with a tingle.

As inappropriate as it seems to be having a hot moment when it’s so vulnerable and emotional, they just miss each other so much. In any regular situation, they’d just be hugging and maybe giving sweet pecks, but their pent up desire makes it hard for them to hold back.

He’s thankful for her V-neck shirt, because he can plant his lips in the area between her breasts without having to take any of her clothes off. A hickey in that spot would be easy enough to cover up with a shirt, so she lets him continue. Her hands slide out of his hair and down to the back of his shoulders. His muscles are clenched, working hard to give him as much leverage as possible. He pushes her back on the bed, straddling her, while continuing to suck in that same spot. Then he peppers kisses in a path all the way back up to her mouth. He notices her struggling to keep up with the rhythm of the kisses, so he rolls off and lays beside her on the bed.

“Thank you.” She murmurs.

He wraps her up in his arms and rubs her back. They both start to get drowsy, but are startled alert when they hear Clarke’s mom call from downstairs. Clarke had forgotten that they’d wanted to watch a movie tonight, and now she wishes she hadn’t requested it. Her and Bellamy roll out of bed and make their way downstairs, Clarke making a stop in her bedroom to change into a pajama shirt that would cover up her awkwardly placed hickey.

She doses off in the middle of the movie. No one bothers to wake her, knowing she’s had a pretty long and emotionally exhausting day.

  
Clarke knows that any normal guy wouldn’t be okay with the happenings of that day. A normal guy would probably be scared away and freaked out. Bellamy is no normal guy, he’s not even close. And she thinks that she’s falling in love with him for it.


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clarke and Bellamy have their first day out together, and meet up with Wells for lunch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's some smut right in the middle of this chapter in case you want to avoid it.

Her mom tells her to wake Bellamy up for breakfast. Her mom obviously doesn’t understand how impossible it is to get Bellamy out of bed. Knowing Bellamy wouldn’t want to miss breakfast, she goes and attempts it anyway. She straddles him on the bed, grabs him by the shoulders, and begins to shake him violently. It elicits a grunt, but other than that, no signs of waking. Then she gets off the bed and peels off all the sheets. He curls up slightly, but there isn’t even a flutter of the eyes. She gets a cup from the bathroom and splashes it at his face. Then another, then another. Finally, his eyes crack open just a sliver.

“What the fuck?” He mumbles.

“Breakfast is ready.” She says, tracing circles on his chest. She trusts he’ll follow after her and goes downstairs to sit at the dining room table.

He grovels into the kitchen and drops himself down on the chair across from her at the table. He doesn’t say a word until he’s at least half way done his coffee. When he does, there’s no energy in his words.

“Did you not sleep well, Bell?” Clarke asks him.

“I’ve slept in the same bed every night for probably two years straight. It’s just a different feeling, you know? Something different to get used to. I’ll figure it out.”

With that Clarke tops up his coffee. The more of it that he pours into his bloodstream, the more verbal he is. Clarke wouldn’t use the term energetic, because even at his best he still seems to be lacking energy. After breakfast, Bellamy hops into the shower. Clarke follows in with him, thinking that what her parents don’t know won’t kill them.

Bellamy marvels at the deep purple bruise that he left between Clarke’s breasts. He kisses it, then laves it over with his tongue, eliciting a slight wince from Clarke. She brings herself close to him, pressing her chest against his and running her flexed palms over the round mounds of his ass. He cranes his neck for a tired and kind of sloppy kiss. After her tongue is re-familiarized with the inside of Bellamy’s mouth, she separates from him and reaches for soap. His disapproval is well heard.

“Last time I had sex in the shower, I broke my fucking elbow. In this case, the benefits do not outweigh the risk.”

“I wasn’t going for sex, just a couple more kisses.”

She can’t help but grin as their lips reunite. Her hands find his ass again, and they hold on for dear life. She’s able to fill her hands with the squishy material, a good means to press herself even farther into him. He giggles at the feeling of her hardened nipples against his chest, even though he’s felt it countless times before.

“This is a long shower Bell,” She whispers, “My parents are going to get suspicious.”

“Clarke, you’re an adult, so what if you take a shower with your boyfriend? You can’t let them rule your every move Clarke, you’re 19 years old.”

“It’s their house, their rules. I had to fight to get you here and I don’t want to get you kicked out. Let’s just finish up in here and get downstairs. We’ll say goodbye to my parents and we can go out for our own afternoon. I have quite a fun day planned.”

Mostly understanding where Clarke is coming from, they clean each other up quickly and towel themselves off. They bid goodbyes to Clarke’s parents and go off on their first day alone together.

It’s 11:00AM. The first thing on Clarke’s agenda is to visit the lake. She opts not to take her car because the coast of Lake Erie is only about a 20 minutes walk from her house. Inviting him to follow, she flicks off her sandals and wades into the shallow water. His eyes open wide once he’s in up to his ankles.

“Fuck this is cold!” He yells.

“What did you expect? The summer just started and it’s only like 75 degrees out.”

A mischievous smirk crosses Bellamy’s face, and Clarke immediately knows what he’s thinking.

“Don’t you fucking dare get my clothes wet! We have a long day ahead of us and I did not work walking home to change clothes into the schedule.”

He splashes her playfully, but when she doesn’t laugh in response he knows that she’s serious and he needs to turn it down. They stand together about knee deep in the water for at least five minutes. His hand is wrapped around her waist and she leans her head into his shoulder. They stare out across the water, being able to see just barely the coast of somewhere in Ontario across the lake.

They get out of the water and dry their feet on the towel that Clarke brought before sliding into their shoes and getting back out to the street. Clarke says it’s lunch time. On their way up to a cute little cafe Clarke is tackled into a hug by someone Bellamy has never met. After she manages to wriggle out of his arms, she introduces him:

“Bellamy, this is basically my brother; Wells Jaha, Wells, this is the only boy in the world that I like better than you; Bellamy Blake.” A look of pride presents itself on Bellamy’s face as he offers his hand to Wells. Wells makes a pretty butthurt face as he accepts the handshake, but laughs eventually because he knows that Clarke was only half serious.

They pick out a table in the cafe, and are greeted by a far too perky brunette. Clarke, however, is not fazed by the brunette’s impossible perkiness and wraps her up in a tight hug. Never did Bellamy take Clarke to be a hugger, but the past ten minutes have made him think otherwise.

Clarke notices that Bellamy’s contact with her is making Wells uncomfortable. Whenever they’re in conversation and Bellamy wraps an arm around her, touches her hand, or kisses her cheek, Wells’ eyes cast down at his food. While she doesn’t want to hurt Wells’ feelings, knowing full well he was head over heels for her in high school, she also doesn’t want him to get in the way of her afternoon with her boyfriend. She notices that Bellamy picks up on it too, because he touches her less and less as the meal goes on.

“Hey, Wells, Clarke told me that story about you coating that girl with paint and I’d just like to commend you for that. It was quite the well thought out move my friend.”

“Actually it was more of a spurt of the moment thing. I noticed she was coming my way and I also didn’t like my painting very much, so I essentially killed two birds with one stone.”

“Oh my gosh Wells, tell him about the porn one!”

Bellamy quirks an eyebrow and eyes Clarke suspiciously. Clarke gives him a reassuring look that the story isn’t how it sounds.

“Alright, so I was over at some guy’s house, and his mom was just downstairs. This was probably in like eighth grade or something. Anyway, this guy had just accidentally ripped a signed poster or something of mine and refused to pay me back. I pretended to forgive him, but all the while I was plotting my revenge. When he suggested we watch a porn movie I knew exactly what I was gonna do. A few minutes in I excused myself to the bathroom, and took his phone with me. From there I texted his mom saying like ‘can you come up to my room for a sec’ or something. I left his phone in the bathroom and snuck out the window. He was grounded for like a month, it was incredible.”

“Oh my God Wells, you’re a genius.”

Wells grins smugly, giving him a look that says ‘I know’.

Their bill comes and Clarke pays for all of them. Wells tags along to an ice cream place just down the street called ‘The Scoop’. It is impossible for a person entering The Scoop for the first time to not be completely overwhelmed. It’s a tiny little place, but somehow they manage to squeeze in upwards of 40 ice cream flavours. Bellamy steps as far out of the way as he can to look at the menu. Clarke and Wells both already know what they’re having. Once Bellamy has finally decided what to order, they all place together, Wells paying this time.

They sit outside at a picnic table at a park across the street. Clarke and Wells share a laugh at Bellamy as he sits, staring in awe at his ice cream cone.

“What did you say you got Bell?”

“I got one scoop of chocolate caramel ribbon, and one scoop of chocolate cheesecake. What did you get?”

“Vermont maple candy and cinnamon French toast.”

They both know what the other is thinking, and they trade cones. They each take a good couple licks of the other’s, and both decide that they like their own better. Clarke isn’t a massive fan of chocolate ice cream and Bellamy isn’t a massive fan of maple. They all eat their cones in peace, rushing to finish it before it creates a melty mess. Once the ice cream is gone, they say goodbye to Wells and move on in opposite directions.

Clarke drags Bellamy down a path that breaks off from the sidewalk. They continue down the path for about 20 minutes until they’re deep into a forest. They approach a small pond with a waterfall running into it. Clarke takes off her shirt, and begins to unbutton her pants.

“What are you doing?” Bellamy asks her.

“I told you I scheduled time for fucking in the itinerary.” She slips out of her shorts and panties, then unhinges her bra. It’s a small body of water, so it’s actually pretty warm when she wades into it.

“Is this legal?” Bellamy calls, still completely clothed.

“Of course not!”

His internal debate lasts about three seconds, before he’s ass naked and latched to her lips in the middle of the pond.

“Wait a second,” His words vibrate against her lips, “Do condoms work underwater?”

“I’ve done my research,” She starts, “And yes. Not as good as if we weren’t underwater obviously, but it will do the trick.”

He starts at the base of her neck, but she moves his head and tells him no hickeys. She knows that her parents will assume that they’re going to have sex on his visit, but she doesn’t want to flaunt it for them. It works out in her favour anyway, because it’s a perfectly valid excuse to keep his lips on hers and limit him to exploring her with his hands.

Her focus stays completely on his lips, arms locking behind his neck so she can press against him. His hands start at her ribcage. He runs his fingers up and down, expecting a giggle but remembering that Clarke isn’t ticklish. His fingers gently trace the curve of her waist into her hips, pressing down on the hardness of her hipbones. He slides his open palms around behind her and clutches her ass. He kneads it gently to start, increasing in strength gradually. He slides his hands down the back of her thighs, and she launches herself into his arms.

The rocks at the bottom of the pond do nothing to hinder his determination. He gets the two of them under the slow pour of the waterfall, where he lowers her down until he’s completely inside of her. Her head and eyes roll back, and she lets out a moan that he feels vibrate against his chest. After over a month, she finally has him back inside of her.

With her back pressed against the rocky wall, she tries her best to grind and roll her hips. Her hands claw at his back while he drags out and thrusts into her at as fast of a pace as he can go standing up. She cascades into a mess of breathy whimpers and desperate repetitions of his name, bringing him closer and closer to the edge. He lets out a string of swears as he comes, which Clarke takes as her cue to drop her feet down to the floor of the pond and give him an opportunity to collect himself.

She’s toweling off by the side of the pond before he’s even moved from his spot. Hearing her laugh at him, already completely dressed, finally gets him out of the water. Once they’re completely clothed, they continue down the path. His arm loops over her shoulder and she takes his hand.

“This is where I used to go when I wanted to be alone,” She starts when they approach a bit of a clearing, “I used to write songs here. I loved it here because I knew nobody could hear me.”

“Why wouldn’t you want anyone to hear you?”

“The songwriting process does not sound pretty. Anyway, sit.” She points to a log on the ground, then goes behind a tree. She comes back with a guitar and a notebook, then rests herself on the log beside him.

“I snuck these down here a couple days ago. The guitar probably isn’t completely tuned anymore, but it will have to do. I can’t play guitar for shit, so you’re gonna play and I’ll sing.”

She opens a book to a page and demonstrates the speed and strumming pattern for him. Her heart flutters as she listens to him play the song she wrote, almost forgetting that she needs to sing.

“ _You are my fairytale. You are my fairytale. I find it so hard to believe, that you are right in front of me. Cuz you are my fairytale._ ” She watches the grin spread farther and farther across his face before she starts the next verse.

“ _You are my special boy. You are my special boy. I would not know what to do, if I was left here without you. Cuz you are my special boy._ ” When she peeks at him again he’s radiating a smile that would light up the entire clearing at night. She starts on the chorus.

“ _Cuz with you my heart’s a-race. It beats at a crazy pace. Looking at you face to face, I know you’re mine._ ” After that she starts up on the verses again. He gives her a long, passionate kiss when she’s done. One that lingers long after their lips are separated.

“I’m sorry it’s not much,” She starts, “I just wanted to write something for you because you wrote something for me. And I’m sorry I couldn’t play it, I knew I wouldn’t do it justice. I just-”

He cuts her off with his lips. She forgets instantly what she was saying, but it doesn’t matter. She packs up the guitar and notebook back in the case, and they take turns carrying it back to the house. They’re back by 4:30 and start up on cooking dinner.

 

Her parents get home just as the food finishes cooking. They cooked the first dish that Clarke cooked for Bellamy, the salmon dish with rice and veggies. Both Clarke and Bellamy have to repress the memory of the chocolate strawberries that immediately followed this dinner last time, because getting turned on at the dinner table would most likely raise a few parental eyebrows. In hindsight, Clarke thinks that it was probably a bad idea to cook this meal for her parents.

After dinner, Clarke’s parents wash the dishes, Bellamy skypes Octavia, and Clarke skypes Raven.

“So have you been able to keep your hands off of him in front of your parents?” Is the first thing that Raven asks after she accepts Clarke’s call.

“I fucked him earlier today so I’m probably good for the rest of the week.” She doesn’t even get through the sentence before she’s already laughing.

“I bet you really needed that.”

“Did I ever! Anyway, how’s the beach sex going?”

“After what you said to me I will never, ever have beach sex. Wick asked if I wanted to once and I almost gagged.”

Clarke shudders audibly: “Never again.”

They rumble on and on about trivial details of their lives at home with their boyfriends. Bellamy wanders into Clarke’s room and hops with a thud onto her bed.

“If it isn’t the best boyfriend Clarke has ever had!” Raven chimes.

“Just boyfriend? Has she had better girlfriends?”

“Have you ever even had a girlfriend Clarke? When it comes to girls Clarke’s more of a one night stand kind of gal.”

“I went on a couple dates with that girl Lexa, but we couldn’t really trust each other so that was the end of that. I think if she’d have just let me in a little bit we could really be something, but in that case I wouldn’t find this guy and we really couldn’t have that.” Clarke kisses Bellamy on the cheek once she finishes talking. Raven thinks for a second.

“Oh right, Lexa! I didn’t really like her, but she was definitely your type. Yeah, Bell, you’re the favourite for sure.”

“Thank you Raven, I’m honoured.”

Raven and Bellamy chat for a few minutes before Clarke decides it’s time to hang up. She curls herself up against Bellamy’s chest and he grazes his thumb over her exposed hipbone.

“You’ll never guess what I have planned for tomorrow.” She mumbles into his chest.

“More illegal sex?”

“Well yes, but that’s not everything. You’ll love it.”

“You can’t just tease me like that! What is it?”

After pestering and begging for a while, he gives up on squeezing it out of her. They walk downstairs into a conversation that they’re hopeless on deciphering. It takes Jake and Abby a few seconds to realise that the two are hovering in the living room.

“Your dad and I were just about to go to bed,” She starts, “But we were just talking about possibly making a trip down to Niagara Falls on Friday? Your dad is a few days ahead of his deadline, and I’ve got the day off, so I figured it would be a good day for that. You don’t have to tag along if you don’t want to, it was just a suggestion.”

Clarke and Bellamy exchange eyes, then meet Abby with a confirmation. Clarke knows that her parents want to spend more time with Bellamy because he’s growing on them and they want to feel out more of what he’s like. Plus, they probably won’t be together the whole time, and it would be a nice opportunity for a romantic afternoon.

They have a nice chat in the living room with Clarke’s parents, before Jake tuns in because he has an early morning, and Abby turns in because she’s had a long day. Knowing that their freedom is raised exponentially, they debate what they should do. Bellamy argues that they should just have sex, but Clarke disputes that that’s too noisy, and they’d probably end up sleeping in the same bed. Clarke suggests they have a bath together, but Bellamy just flat-out says no. They eventually manage to decide they’ll play pool on the table in the basement.

Ten minutes into their game, Bellamy has sunk five of his balls and Clarke has sunk none. It’s embarrassing that she has a pool table in her own house but she sucks at the game. By the time he’s down to just the eight ball, she’s completely fed up and hops on the table, spreading all the balls around every which way. It’s hard for him to be mad when she’s so adorable, so he pulls her up to the edge of the table and meets her lips.

“Ever been fucked on a pool table?” He asks.

“No,” She starts, pulling away, “And I don’t plan to. We can’t make a mess on this thing. And we’ve gotta save it for tomorrow, our next location is even more scandalous and I don’t want you to waste all your good moves on this bloody pool table.”

He lets out an exaggerated huff onto her lips, but moves back to sucking them gently. She grabs his bottom lips with her teeth and traces the muscles in his back through his shirt. He’s immobilized because she doesn’t want her to tear his lip off. It’s when she yawns into his mouth that they decide that they should probably hit the hay. Neither of them want to be tired for scandalous location number two tomorrow, even though Bellamy doesn’t even know what it is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Someone asked me to include some Lexa so I hope this is good enough. I really do like Lexa, but I don't ship Clexa. I hope I didn't offend any of you Clexa shippers out there.


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bellamy and Clarke have an exciting day together, then hit scandalous location number two, then have a lazy and tired evening together!

Both of Clarke’s parents are already out of the house when she wakes up. She makes her own breakfast and leaves Bellamy to wake up on his own. She’s nibbling away on a piece of toast when a pair of tan and muscular arms come down in front of her. She meets his lips for an awkward upside down kiss, and squeaks when his chin bumps her nose.

“So what are our plans for today my beautiful princess?”

“Nothing before lunch, so we’re stuck stewing around in here until then.”

“Does that mean what I think it means?”

“No! I already told you! No sex until the schedule says so! Which, for your information, is 2:30PM.”

Bellamy checks the time on his phone: “You’re gonna make me wait four and a half hours to fuck you! Come on princess!”

“Don’t worry, I’ve got stuff planned so you won’t be bored. We can take a shower now though.”

They shower together like they always do; a little bit of kissing, a little bit of touching, but no sex. Bellamy marvels at the scratches up Clarke’s back from being ground against the rocky wall of the waterfall the day before, and peppers kisses down them hoping it will make them feel better. Little does he know, she doesn’t even know that they’re there. They finish getting dressed and ready, Clarke packs her backpack, and the two head out. Clarke takes them to another cafe on the opposite side of town, which is full of people that Clarke knows and Bellamy doesn’t.

Clarke is absolutely giddy as she drags Bellamy down the streets on the way to their next destination. It’s not time for scandalous location number two yet, but she knows Bellamy will love this place too. They approach a rather large building, but Bellamy doesn’t get a good look at the sign. Thus, he has no idea what he’s walking into.

The interior of the building is insanely colourful. The walls are covered with spots of oranges, and pinks, and greens, and blues, and countless other colours. It takes Bellamy a few seconds to realise what’s going on. They’re at a rock climbing gym.

Clarke picks up a harness and a pair of shoes from the front desk and hands them to Bellamy. She promises him she’ll be right back and ducks into the changeroom. She returns clad in skin-tight exercise clothes, wearing her own harness and climbing shoes. It takes all he has for him not to squeeze her bum a little.

Bellamy gets a belaying lesson from one of the people who works there, and they start into the massive expanse of the gym. While they browse the walls, Clarke explains how everything works.

“Alright, so all the climbs are colour coded. That might look really obvious to you, but you’d be surprised how many people come in and are super excited that they’re doing hard walls, but they’re not even using the right holds. So, the grading system. Every grade starts with the number 5, which just means it’s a vertical wall. The next number is the one that matters. The lower the number, the easier it is. Beginners usually start with 5.6, but I figure those will probably be too easy for you. Do you want to start with a 5.7?”

She can tell that Bellamy is completely overwhelmed. She takes the rope of a 5.6 and he nods. She lets him tie himself in, because he learned the knots in his belaying lesson, and she attaches the grigri to her own harness. He clambers up the 5.6 without much trouble, then it’s her turn. When he asks her what she wants to climb, she tells him that she’d like to warm up first and picks a 5.9. Based on that being her choice of warm up, Bellamy knows he’s out to have his ass handed to him. She’s up and down it in the blink of an eye, and Bellamy picks out a 5.7.

As the day goes on, Clarke can tell that Bellamy is a little butthurt that she’s way better than him. She easily sends a 5.11+ before he finally gets up a 5.8 after coming off the wall three times. He knows that she’s been climbing for years, but even so, he feels like he should be doing better because of how large and muscular he is. He could easily beat her in an arm wrestle, but in a competition of forearm muscle and grip strength she could beat him in her sleep. His ratio of muscles to body mass also isn’t exactly optimal for the sport.

When it’s all said and done, he really did have a good time. He doesn’t let his massive inferiority get to him for very long, instead turning it into an admiration of her skill. She changes back into her street clothes, and Bellamy returns his harness and shoes. They hit the road on their way to scandalous location number two.

 

Bellamy is confused when Clarke leads him into a large apartment complex building, opening the door with a keycard. He follows her blindly into the elevator, and up to the roof, which also requires the keycard. She sits back in a lounge chair that’s up there while he marvels over the view of the town. She fumbles with the hem of her shirt, growing impatient. She’s surprised that he’s not in more of a hurry to get her clothes off.

“How did you get that keycard?” He asks.

“Well my dad’s an architect, right? So he was responsible for the design of this place however many years back, and for my birthday that year he gave me the keycard up to the roof because he knew I would love it up here. Like that spot in the forest yesterday, I used to come up here a lot when I wanted to be alone. I never brought anyone up here with me, I don’t even think my dad has been up here since he was building this place. It’s so tranquil and serene up here, too bad we’ll have to ruin that today.”

His eyes light up as if he only just remembers what they’re up there for. They swap spots on the lounge chair, and she plants herself down on top of him. She cranes her neck to meet his lips, and she works her tongue in almost immediately. His tongue rarely makes an appearance in her mouth anymore, they both like it better when Clarke does all the work on that front. His fingers squeeze dimples into the backs of her hips, and she keeps both palms centered on his pecs. She likes to keep her hands there, but she knows there are definitely far better things that they could be doing.

Both their shirts and her shorts make their way to the concrete. His lips make their way to the top of her left breast. He’s surprised that she lets him suck a bruise there, but he’s thankful because she loves feeling her moans vibrate against his lips while he does it. Her bra comes off soon following, slumping to the ground with the rest of their clothes.

Clarke lets today be about her. Only he orgasmed yesterday, so she’s gotta make sure she gets her turn. She lets the focus stay on her nipples for longer than it probably should, she knows they’ll be more than sore tomorrow. The wetness of her panties against his torso eventually gets to him, and he pushes the fabric aside. The first contact with her clit sends shocks searing all over her body, and she lets out a strangled shriek of Bellamy’s name. He slips one finger in to start, but Clarke is too impatient. She reaches down to his hand and shoves another two of his fingers into her. She rolls her hips on his fingers and presses her mouth to his in a far-too-toothy kiss. Her nails rake across his scalp and fingers tangle in his thick curls.

He pulses in and out of her, rubbing her clit gently with his thumb. He doesn’t notice how hard she’s pulling on his hair, because he’s too focused on giving her what she wants. His pace gets quicker and quicker until she’s forced to separate from his lips and throw her head over his shoulder as she reaches her climax. She lets out a far-too-loud string of F-words as she gets his hand completely drenched, orgasm tearing through her center hard and fast.

She immediately rips down his shorts and slips a condom onto him. It’s times like these that Bellamy’s less jealous than thankful for women’s ability to have multiple consecutive orgasms. He’s inside of her within seconds, and she bucks and rocks on top of him until he’s panting and sweaty. Even though she’s doing all of the work, by the time he’s pushed over the edge he’s completely drained. She climbs off of him and changes into the backup panties that she brought, being sure she gives him time to recuperate before they do anything else. He manages to get up off of the lounge chair, and meets her at the edge of the building.

“So what made you choose this spot for scandalous location number two?”

“Well, as I said, I really love it here. And I come here a lot. So now, whenever I come up here, I will have that memory. Another thing I like about this spot it it’s private, but it’s completely out in the open. Like there’s no covering or anything, and there are just some low walls. You can see everything everyone down there is doing, but they can’t see you. It’s completely illegal, but are chances of getting caught are like nothing. No one really ever comes up here but me.”

“It’s such a rush to do this out in public. When you asked me at the pond yesterday I didn’t know how I felt about it, but the fact that it’s so wrong and punishable by law just adds that extra little cap of adrenaline.”

“I know so many places in this town we can hit. You’re really the first person I’ve met who’s been as excited about it as I am. I’m glad I get to do this with you.”

He gently guides her chin toward him so he can reach her lips. She loves him more and more each day, and with the way he kisses her, she figures he probably does too.

 

Their energy is sub zero when they walk home. No matter how much sugar and caffeine they filter into themselves, they can’t manage to bounce back. Half hour walk followed by rock climbing followed by 15 minute walk followed by sex followed by 45 minute walk really takes a lot out of you. They both peel off their clothes and slump back on Clarke’s bed when they get home, kicking aside the covers and letting the AC relieve their skin.

“We really probably should take a shower.” Clarke says, eyes not moving from the ceiling.

“Like I could stay standing for 15 minutes. Why don’t we take that bath you suggested last night.”

“And stew in our own filth? Oh my God. I am sweaty and sticky and gross, there is no way I’m sitting in my dirty bath water. We don’t have to take a 15 minute shower, we’ve just gotta rinse off. At least I do.”

Bellamy grunts in disapproval, but manages to roll himself out of bed and make his way to Clarke’s shower. By the time he gets there, she has it turned on and is stepping inside. He braces himself against the wall of the shower and lets the water run down his back. Realising just how tired Bellamy actually is, she soaps the loofah and lathers him up herself. They wash and rinse and towel off, then go back to Clarke’s bed. Bellamy falls asleep almost immediately, leaving Clarke all alone to her thoughts.

She debates telling him that she loves him. Even though she’s at least 80% sure that he loves her too, that 20% on the other side is enough to scare her away from it. The last thing she wants to do is scare him away. And obviously he doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who would be scared away by something like that, but Clarke is so scared of taking chances when it comes to this kind of thing. Maybe she’ll tell him at Niagara Falls on Friday. That’s sweet and romantic, she decides that that’s her plan.

She works her plan down to the specific time and location that it will happen until she hears the front door open. She twists in bed and starts rocking and shaking Bellamy, knowing that it’s of no use as she does it. She guiltily gets a water cup again, knowing he hated it so much last time she did it. He’s awake after two splashes. Before he can even say a word, she starts:

“At least one of my parents are home, so we’ve gotta go downstairs and be pleasant. I’m so sorry for waking you up. I’ll make it up to you.” She does her version of a wink, and gets dressed to go downstairs.

“Hey baby!” Her mom says when she comes downstairs, “Where’s Bellamy?”

“He actually just got out of the shower, we went rock climbing today so we were all sweaty.”

“Was he embarrassed when he watched you kick his ass at it? How good was he?”

“Well I could tell he was a little defeated, but he actually did pretty good for a beginner. He didn’t send the eight I put him up, but he at least got to the top of it.”

“I’m glad to hear you two had a nice afternoon together. Anyway, Thelonious invited your dad and I over for dinner tonight. He said you can tag along if you want, but Wells won’t be there. You guys probably don’t want to come, we’re mostly gonna be talking about buildings and lot possession and architect-to-mayor stuff. I know I’m not looking forward to it so I definitely do not want to drag you along.”

“Yeah, that sounds terrible. Bellamy and I most definitely will not be tagging along,” She pauses, hearing Bellamy’s footsteps creak down the stairs, “Speak of the devil!”

He wraps his arms around her waist and kisses her temple. Clarke explains to him that her parents are going out to Wells’ dad’s house for dinner, so they’ll probably have to order take out or go eat out. They both know that since their day has been so long and physically strenuous that it will obviously be the former.

Abby and Jake head out leaving $40 on the counter for whatever they want for dinner. However much they go over will be Clarke’ to pay. They order a large pepperoni pizza, potato wedges, and a funnel cake for delivery from a pizzeria a few blocks away, which comes to $30.

Clarke knows the delivery boy, and she chats with him for a few minutes while Bellamy is forced to wait. His stomach grumbles as it’s teased by the smell of the pizza.

Clarke finally pays for the order, and Bellamy laughs as she puts a finger over her lips and makes a shushing sound while she pockets the extra $10.

There are three slices of pizza left over when they’re done. They stare lustfully at the funnel cake, but decide that their stomachs would like them a little better if they saved it for later.

“Think fast!” She calls as she tosses him a Wii remote across the living room. He catches it in stride and plops down beside her on the couch.

“Is this what I think it is?” He asks.

The title screen for Mario Kart flashes on the TV. Clarke grins mischievously as she selects the game mode and her character. Bellamy is not surprised when Clarke picks Peach, and decides that he’s gonna have to pick Mario as a result. She lets out one loud laugh when Bellamy spins out at the start of the race. She thought there would be a competition, but if he doesn’t even know the starting trick there probably won’t be.

By the end of lap two, Clarke is in first and Bellamy is in fifth. Bellamy doesn’t resist chanting a loud ‘Yes’ when he breaks a prize cube and releases a blue spiny shell. He launches it immediately, the impact large enough to incapacitate positions one, two, and three. All he has to do is pass number four, and he crosses the finish line first.

Clarke slumps defeatedly into the couch, but continues onto the next race in the cup. She comes in second and Bellamy comes in sixth. In the third race, Bellamy comes third and Clarke comes tenth. In the fourth race, Clarke comes first and Bellamy comes third.

The championship screen rolls on, displaying both a podium and an overall scoreboard. Sitting on the third place spot of the podium is Mario, and fourth on the scoreboard is Princess Peach.

Clarke makes an angry noise and turns to punch Bellamy lightly on the shoulder. He flashes her his gorgeous teeth and it’s impossible for her to stay mad.

“Rematch.”

She loses again.

“Rematch.”

She loses again.

“Rematch.”

This time she finally wins. She lets out a high pitched squeal when she sees Princess Peach in the second spot on the podium and Mario on the third. She turns and presses kisses all over Bellamy’s face, but is interrupted when her parents amble through the front door.

“Are you guys playing Mario Kart without us!?” Her dad sounds truly offended. She tosses each of her mom and dad Wii remotes as they enter the living room. Bellamy wins again.

The two pairs separate after that, Abby and Jake taking another early night. Clarke is grateful for it, because it means that her and Bellamy can eat their funnel cake without the looming threat of being forced to share. After the cake makes a trip to the microwave, vanilla ice cream is doled out in massive scoops onto it. Once Clarke believes that the cake is both edible and presentable, she sets it in front of Bellamy along with knives and forks, and they dig in.

The cake has disappeared within a matter of minutes, both parties being chronic fast-eaters. Clarke throws the plate and cutlery into the dishwasher and sits back down across from her boyfriend.

“Well we can’t go to sleep now, what do you want to do?”

“I need to do something that doesn’t require movement. I am both full to the brim and painstakingly tired. Don’t you have a hot tub?”

Clarke throws open the door to the backyard without even answering Bellamy’s question. She grabs them some towels from the laundry room and leads him outside. Clothes drop to the floor, and naked bodies slink into the searingly hot water. Clarke resists putting her hand in Bellamy’s lap, because she knows that he’s tired, and also does not want to have to clean out the hot tub before she goes to bed. Instead, they sit innocently with their arms wrapped around each other, not escalating past pecks on the lips.

“This has been a good day, Princess.”

“Indeed it has, Mario. Indeed it has.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about all the rock climbing jargon. I tried to keep it as simple as possible, but I think I probably failed.


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's finally Niagara Falls day!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys will like this one.

The next couple days go by pretty fast. Clarke takes Bellamy on strolls around the town, but there’s nothing else all that exponential on the itinerary. The pool and the pool table get a lot of action, as well as the Wii for more Mario Kart. Scandalous location number three is a supply closet at the mall, and scandalous location number four is the restaurant that Wells works at; after hours of course. After the restaurant sex Clarke feels compelled to sanitize fully. It freaks her out that anyone’s food would be exposed to that.

Friday, Niagara Falls day, starts with Clarke waking up to kisses on her eyelids. Her tired eyes flutter slowly, and she reveals a toothy grin when she sees him. She stifles a yawn with her hand, which he moves out of the way in order to press a kiss to her lips. He climbs into bed with her and interlaces their legs for just a split second, before he seems to remember something and rushes out of her room down the stairs.

After putting on clothing that isn’t her impossibly short sleep shorts and Bellamy’s t-shirt, she walks into the kitchen to a plate at the table with scrambled eggs, bacon, and hash browns. She sends a look of thanks to her dad, who quickly reflects her gaze to Bellamy.

“Where’d you get all the food?”

“I woke up at 7:00AM this morning and couldn’t get back to sleep, so I figured I’d make a run out to the grocery store.”

She practically launches herself at him and wraps a tight hug around his neck. She repeats thank yous over and over again into his shirt, sure that his shoulder is the only thing that can hear them. He kisses the spot right above her ear, trying his very best to keep it low-key while her parents are around.

They eat breakfast slowly, savouring every last bite. Clarke asks what Bellamy put in the hash browns, but he tells her it’s part of his grandma’s recipe book so he can’t tell her. He doesn’t make the marriage joke with her parents right across the table, but she knows that’s what he’s thinking.

Abby starts packing bags once breakfast is over. She packs a backpack for each of them, containing snacks, water bottles, a blanket to sit on, and sunscreen. Clarke packs a picnic basket for her and Bellamy. Everyone piles into the car, and Jake starts a playlist on his phone. Clarke inhales sharply when the first song she hears is Don’t Look Back In Anger by Oasis. Her fingers tap uneasily on her knee, and her gaze casts out the window. It’s impossible not to think of the time when he played this for her and want to make out with him for it. When his fingers interlace with hers she clutches his hand tightly, knowing it’s probably as far as they can go in the back seat of her mother’s car without raising any eyebrows.

The drive goes on for nearly an hour. Thankfully no Coldplay comes on, or she would start to have very unclean thoughts. When Use Somebody by Kings Of Leon comes on, Clarke smiles with her whole face. Her and her dad start singing along and giggling. Bellamy makes a mental note of it.

Once they’re within a mile or so of the falls, they get continually louder as they get closer. People crowd the streets and sidewalks, and cars are parked bumper-to-bumper on either side of the road. Abby breathes out a huff and turns the car around in pursuit of somewhere to park.

Abby’s parking job lands them nearly a 20 minutes’ walk from the falls. Clarke is surprised and delighted when her parents separate from them with not so much as a question or request. They’ll have even more of a day together than Clarke originally thought they would, more opportunities for Clarke to squeeze in the words that she wants to say.

The grass by the falls is completely coated with blankets and picnic baskets and squealing children, so they have a pretty difficult time finding a spot. The first plot size larger than two square feet is theirs, as Clarke launches her backpack at it from ten feet away. Bellamy is more than relieved that no one is crushed by the quite heavy, water-bottle-filled bag that soars above their heads.

The picnic basket flies open as soon as they’re situated on the ground. They each have a sub sandwich with turkey, lettuce, tomato, mustard and mayonnaise. While Clarke’s not a massive fan of sandwiches, she deals with it in this case for practicality’s sake.

Once they’re finished with their subs, Clarke nestles into the crook of Bellamy’s arm and rests her head on his chest. They sit peacefully for a while, without a peep, just listening to the constant crash of the falls. Just as she’s starting to get comfortable and slightly drowsy, Bellamy stirs her out of her trance.

“We should actually go down there and sightsee.” Bellamy suggests.

“And lose this incredible spot that I found?”

“We didn’t come to the falls to sit on the grass all day. At least I didn’t. We’ve gotta at least get a few moments’ glance at the main attraction.”

She lets out a long and exaggerated: “Fine.” And gets up to shove their blankets into their backpacks.

They stroll hand-in-hand down the path toward the falls. People are moving out of the way just as they reach the barrier, so they rush in to steal the spot. For something so incredibly violent as gallons upon gallons of water crashing onto jagged rocks, it’s oddly calming. The mist tickles their faces and condensates on Clarke’s sunglasses. After wiping the vapour off seems to prove tedious and useless, she tucks them into the collar of her shirt.

“We should get someone to take a picture of us.” Bellamy says. Clarke looks over at him wide-eyed and shocked.

“You mean just someone random from the sidewalk?”

“Yeah, sure, why not?”

“There’s no way in hell that I am handing my fucking 600 dollar phone to a stranger. You’ve gotta be kidding me.”

“Well then why don’t we go get a disposable camera from a corner store or something?”

“Do they even still sell those? I haven’t used one of those since I was like 12.”

“Well you never know until you try.”

She gives in and follows him back up the path in pursuit of a corner store. The first place they find is absolutely packed. The air is muggy and it smells like sweaty tourists. They give up in that store before they even start. The second place is completely deserted, which they find suspicious on such a crowded street. They’re out of there before they can inquire as to why. They hit a total of five stores before they finally find the camera they’re looking for. By which-point, however, they’re completely lost, and baffled as to how they could lose one of the biggest waterfalls in the world. They follow the flow of tourists, and end up in a park by the falls, nowhere near the one they were at earlier. They managed to find what they were looking for, but they’ve effectively tangled themselves up on the map to the point where they have no idea how they’ll find Abby’s car.

They scout out a couple who’s probably in their 30s, who they assume will be a good candidate for taking their photograph. Upon their request, the woman of the couple says they’ll do it only if they get a photo too. Deciding it’s obviously a fair deal, Clarke hands the disposable camera over to the lady and poses with Bellamy at the barrier. His arm wraps around her waist and her hand comes up on his shoulder. They both smile widely.

She takes a bunch of pictures in that position, hoping at least one of them will turn out well. When the lady suggests that they two also take some pictures while they’re kissing, a bright pink blooms on Clarke’s face. Bellamy chuckles under his breath and presses his lips to Clarke’s. Awkward and stiff at first, Clarke warms up to the kiss until she’s tangled around him like a vine. When she hears the lady whisper something to the man about how she wishes they were still like that, her face goes pink again and her lips break off.

Clarke takes the camera back from the lady and sticks it in her backpack, the man hands Clarke their camera. The couple pose cutely and sweetly; Clarke can tell that they have a lot of chemistry. She doesn’t think they have anything to worry about, even though the lady seemed to think that she and Bellamy had ‘more of a spark’.

The two couples spread their separate ways, and Clarke and Bellamy lay a blanket back out on the grass under the shade of a large tree. Clarke cracks out a water bottle, taking a large sip before she offers Bellamy one. Curled up against his chest with her palm flattened against his muscular stomach, she debates coming out with her confession then and there. Is it a weird time? Maybe she shouldn’t do it around so many people. The smidgen of uncertainty she experiences is enough for her to decide that she should wait.

The thought to pop the three words crosses her mind many times that day. She thought she had it planned down to the specific time and place, but none of the ways she thought through seem quite right to her. She almost pops it when they’re searching the streets for an ice cream shop. She almost pops it when they’re staring up at the sky laying on their blanket on the grass. She almost pops it after they share a kiss beside the falls. There are so many times she could say it, but she always hesitates for just a second too long and the moment is gone.

Bellamy can tell that something is weighing on Clarke’s mind for a lot of the day. When he kisses her he can tell that there’s something else on her mind. Her hands don’t work around him like they usually do. While he writes it off to the fact that they’re in a public place swarmed with people, he figures that there’s probably something deeper getting to her too.

Sitting in the grass in a massive herd of people gets tiring after a while. They decide they’ll have a walk up and down the paths surrounding the falls. They start with their hands clutched together with fingers interlaced between them. By the time they’ve walked about half a mile, their sweaty hands are still laced together, but Bellamy’s arm is looped right over Clarke’s shoulder.

“We should do this kind of thing more often.” Clarke states.

“I agree. This day has felt so calm even though everything happening around us is hectic. It’s an interesting phenomenon and I’m thirsty for more of it. I wouldn’t want to spend it with anyone else though.”

She turns her head up and tacks a kiss onto his mouth.

“Time is not on our side Bellamy.”

He sighs because he knows she’s right. He only has one more full day in Buffalo before he has to go back to his sweaty sausage-fest of a house for proximity to his job. Sometimes she can’t help but wish that he was born into money like she was, but she also feels like that would change their dynamic entirely.

They end up eating hot dogs from a street vendor for dinner, because all the restaurants in the are even rich-girl-Clarke agrees are way too expensive to be worth their while.

The pursuit of Abby’s car is ridiculous, especially since it’s become dark out. When Clarke finally sees the car up the street, she makes a rash decision and pulls Bellamy over to the side of the sidewalk. The look on her face is terrified.

“What is it Princess?”

“I-I,” She keeps stumbling, and eventually gives up, “I had a really really great time today Bellamy. I hope there are tons more days like this in our future.”

Seemingly disappointed by what Clarke had to say, he lets out a “Me too Princess.” And presses a half-hearted kiss to her lips.

 

The ride back to Buffalo is a complete lull. Nobody really talks, nobody asks about each other’s days, they just let the playlist do it’s work. Clarke is surprised that her mom doesn’t dig more in her and Bellamy’s day though, she’d expect her to be curious. She’s not surprised, however, that Bellamy is quiet. She knows that she got his hopes up and she knows that she let him down. While she now knows he knows she loves him, he’d probably think it nice to hear her actually say it.

Clarke fumbles with the hem of her shorts and replays the moment in her head over and over again. She’s worried she’s royally fucked up. She’s worried that that was her chance, and another perfect moment like that isn’t going to come around in too long. She busies herself by refreshing her twitter feed over and over, and taking the tiniest possible sips from her water bottle. Celebrities never do anything interesting when she needs them to.

Her heart skips a beat when she hears the familiar starting chords to a Coldplay song. Her palms get sweaty and her breathing and heart rates speed up exponentially. Her head spins at an incomprehensible rate through the line, having so many feelings that she’s too paralyzed and terrified to express.

“ _You don’t know how lovely you are._ ”

And it happens. It happens fast, the words fly out of her mouth like they’re meaningless. She doesn’t choke on the words at all, they’re strong and confident, loud and proud. But that doesn’t stop her from slapping both her hands over her mouth immediately following.

Her mom pulls the car over as soon as she’s able and snaps her head back to look at her, then Bellamy, then her again. Her dad has turned off the playlist, and is staring daggers through Clarke’s soul. Both parents are waiting for at least one of them to say something.

It’s Clarke who says the next words. It’s a repetition of the same three she already said. It’s less confident this time, her eyes cast down at her feet and she feels sweat soaking through her shirt. Now, the eyes are on Bellamy, egging him on to respond.

Knowing if he doesn’t say it back he could quite possibly ruin his relationship with Clarke, he takes her chin and stares into her eyes. He knows he feels it, he really does, but he just doesn’t know if he’s going to be able to force it out.

Based on the way he looks at her, everyone expects what comes next to be just as confident as the first time Clarke said it, but it’s not. Tears prick his eyes as the words come out shaky and stuttered and broken.

“I-I love, I love you, too, Clarke Griffin.”

Once it starts, they can’t stop repeating it. They say it to each other over and over until they effectively get tears running down all four of their faces. After receiving a nod of approval from her mother, Clarke presses her lips hard to Bellamy’s. Bellamy presses his lips hard to Clarke’s. For just a moment, they’re alone in the car. For just a moment, they’re alone in the universe. Nothing really matters in that moment other than the glide of Bellamy’s lips against Clarke’s. Abby and Jake, creepily, offer no privacy. They relish as much in the moment as the other two.

As weird as it was for their first profession of love to be in front of Clarke’s parents, they both know that it was perfect and wouldn’t have had it any other way.


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They have sex in the basement, then spend their last day together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The first little bit is smutty if you want to avoid that stuff.

They’re antsy the rest of the way home. Bellamy rubs Clarke’s knee like a genie will come out of it, and Clarke can’t stop touching her hair and her clothes. The playlist is back on, but Clarke’s dad skipped the rest of The Scientist because he knows it struck a nerve. As much as it was a happy nerve, he didn’t want the two any more anxious. Thankfully Clarke’s dad doesn’t know any Ed Sheeran.

Knowing that her parents will be heading off to bed not long after, Bellamy and Clarke stay downstairs in the living room with them when they get home. That’s when the chats about their days start. Jake drawls on about boring detail after boring detail, trying his best to make it sound interesting. He has such a good sense of humour, but some things just aren’t interesting no matter how you sell them.

It’s 11:00 when Abby and Jake finally turn in. Clarke scooches closer to Bellamy on the couch and bats her eyelashes at him. He cuddles her up and kisses her forehead, causing her to purr and nestle in further.

“I love you.” She says, tracing through the folds and wrinkles in the fabric of his shirt.

“I love you too.” The sound is muffled by her hair, but Clarke hears it loud and clear.

“So what now?”

“I think I need to have sex with you. As soon as possible.”

“Well we can’t do it upstairs. There’s a guest bedroom in the basement though. It’ll be nice to actually do it on a bed for the first time in forever.”

“You got a condom?”

“Of course I do,” She pulls a packet out of her bra, “With a boyfriend like you I never know when I’m gonna need one of these things.”

He sweeps her off the couch bridal style and storms her down the stairs into the basement. After laughing at the confused look on Bellamy’s face when he reaches the bottom of the stairs, she points to the door to the guest room.

She lands on the bed with a thud, laughing hard until she’s stifled by his mouth. For a while they just lay on their sides, bodies touching as much as physically possible, linked at the lips. His index finger runs up and down her spine overtop of her shirt, sending shivers from her neck to her tailbone. Neither one of them wants to change their position, but both of them are itching to get their clothes off.

Both of them wait for the other to move. Clarke plays with a loose string from the hem of his shirt, and he brushes her stomach with his thumb under her shirt. With a grunt, impatient Clarke is first to give in, lifting her arms to give her shirt it’s path over her head. Within ten seconds all of the rest of their clothes are off too.

Their lips reunite for a hot second after they finish spraying garments across the room. His tongue flicks in and out of her mouth, and she leans in for more, but he’s gone. She groans when she realises that his working his way down her body with his mouth. Would it kill him to just use his hands for once?

His lips drag down her jawbone, suck kisses down her neck, and pepper then down her collarbone. She busies herself feeling his sculpted back muscles as they move on his way down. Before she even knows it, his tongue is teasing her bellybutton. His focus stays on her lower tummy for a while, and by this point he’s too far away for her to keep her hands on him without sitting up.

“What the fuck are you doing?” She asks.

“Patience Princess.”

“Bellamy, if you don’t start fucking me soon you’re gonna have to leave.”

Her back curls and she yelps when his tongue flattens against her clit. She takes the comforter in bunches as he gently sucks on the swollen nub. She writhes as shocks spread all over her body, and all she can do is choke out strangled moans. And then he takes a swipe between her lips with his tongue. The flick of her clit at the end of it causes her to whimper. As soon as he gets his tongue into her her muscles tighten and she goes over with a chorus of swears.

Immediately he begins kissing his way back up to her lips. Just before he kisses her, an ‘I Love You’ escapes. He returns it in a low rumble before slotting his lips into hers. She never gets tired of tasting herself on other people’s mouths after stuff like that. The first time it happened she was completely disgusted, but she’s learned to take it in stride.

After a few seconds of solid and mindless kissing, she feels his thumb near her clit. He brushes over it a few times before plunging two fingers into her.

“Are you serious? More?”

“Anything for the girl I love.”

“Oh my God I love you.” She buries her head in the crook of his neck while he works his fingers in and out of her. The next orgasm comes almost immediately after he gets his third finger in. She never gets tired of saying ‘I Love You’s and he never gets tired of hearing them.

“Alright,” She starts, “You need a turn now.”

She shoves him so he’s laying flat on the bed and climbs overtop of him. She slides down onto his hard length and begins to rock her hips jokingly, dancing her arms in circles. He laughs for a short second, but before she knows it he’s on top. His hips crash hard into hers repeatedly, killing any silliness that she may have been feeling.

She gasps with every plunge, periodically cringing and wincing. She knows that there will be pretty bad bruises there the next morning. He shows no sign of stopping, even when her nails are dug hard enough into his back that they could draw blood. Neither of them really notice it anyway, they’re too preoccupied with the bursts of pleasure in each stroke.

His kisses are rough and hungry. He shoves his face hard into hers, graceless but powerful with clashing teeth and faces smashed together. One of her legs comes up to loop behind his lower back, but the other stays low at his calf. She can tell he’s closing in because his mouth separates from hers and he lays his face on the pillow beside her head. His pulses come slower but more powerful, jerking her entire body as they happen.

When she breathily gasps his name, he’s done. That’s what pushes him over every single time. He doesn’t care whether it’s screamed, or gasped, or whimpered, when he hears those three syllables he’s down for the count.

He flattens on the bed beside her, keeping just an arm draped over her stomach. She watches his chest rise and fall as he breathes heavily. His arm moves under her shoulder so she can curl up against him.

“I really fucking love you.” She feels his chest rumble against her ear when he says it.

“I love you too,” She pauses a second, “And Octavia said that we wouldn’t last.”

“Boy was she wrong,” He starts. Then it sets in just what Clarke said, “Wait a second, did she really say that?”

“She said she didn’t think you would be able to put up with me for much longer.”

He breathes out a long sigh and wraps her tighter. His finger dances up and down the bare curve of her waist.

“Well look at me, putting up with you and everything. Have you talked to her since?”

Clarke turns herself so they’re laying on their sides and looking at each other. She doesn’t feel completely comfortable cuddling up to his naked body while they talk about his sister.

“No, I haven’t talked to her, and she hasn’t talked to me. Which I’m kind of surprised about, because she was making such an effort before.”

“You guys had that lunch together, did you say anything to her that you think could’ve offended her? She gets really butthurt about things sometimes.”

Clarke wracks her brain for a good minute, but can’t come up with anything: “Honestly we were just joking about you the whole time. She told me about some of your idiosyncrasies and we laughed about them and stuff, but I don’t remember raising any eyebrows.”

“Do you figure you can quote her word-for-word? If this is really as bad as you’ve made it sound then I think I should probably talk to her about it.”

“She said I’m a smartass and I’m uptight and she doesn’t know how you put up with my shit. But you really don’t need to talk to her about it, not at this stage at least. It’s not like we’re at each other’s throats, we’re just not talking to each other.”

“But I want you to talk to each other. These are the two girls I love more than anything Clarke. Even if you don’t say anything to her for a whole year, she will continue to hate you. She is a very talented grudge-holder. I just really want you two to get along.”

“And you think we can fix it with prolonged exposure?”

“What other choice do we have?”

Clarke sighs overdramatically and rolls onto her back. After they feel they’ve stared  wordlessly at the ceiling for long enough, Clarke rolls out of bed and slips into her underwear on the floor. Bellamy expects her to climb back into bed with him, but when she balls up the rest of her clothes in her arms and walks toward the door he pipes up.

“Where are you going?”

“We can’t sleep down here, we’ve gotta wake up in our separate rooms upstairs.”

“Really? Even tonight? And what makes you think they’d even notice? Come on Clarke, come back to bed. Do you really think they’d kick me out on our second last night together? What’s the harm?”

“Well they might not kick you out this week, but you might not be allowed back in August. I just don’t want to make my parents mad Bell, is this too much to ask?”

Bellamy doesn’t say anything more, but he starts to roll out of bed. She mouths him a ‘thank you’ and leaves the room.

 

“What if I told you I knew someone who had a boat?” Clarke says to Bellamy over breakfast the next day. Her parents have already both left the house for the day.

“I would say ‘What about it?’”

“And to that I would probably respond that I can both borrow and drive this boat,” Bellamy smirks at her, but at the same time eyes going wide and his eyebrows rise, “There are a lot of things you still don’t know about me my love.”

“Well then I hope to learn a bit more about you on our boating expedition today.” The tips of his fingers toy with her hand until they’re interlaced across the table. She leans up over her stack of golden-brown pancakes to peck him a kiss, getting syrup on her t-shirt in the process.

She panics and sprints into the kitchen in search of paper towel. When she finally finds it, she starts dabbing and rubbing vigorously.

“Here,” he says, startling her slightly as he comes up behind her, “Let me get that.”

He plays with the hem of her shirt until she lets him lift it over her head. He places his lips on the base of her neck right beside her bra strap, letting her melt like an ice cube into his warm kiss. She curls under his touch so she can meet his lips for a slow, lingering kiss.

“Alright, let’s pack our picnic and get out of here. I’ve got actual food today as opposed to shitty sandwiches,” He ignores her completely and continues to paint her face with kisses, “The sooner we get out on the water the sooner we can eat lunch. There will be plenty of time for this on the boat.”

He grunts cutely and drops his arms from her waist. Until they leave the house, Bellamy stands around stupidly while Clarke throws everything that they’ll need for the day together into bags. She tosses him a backpack and puts him in charge of the cooler bag, and dons a backpack herself. They meet Wells down at a dock, who is standing in front of a very large boat named ‘The Ark’.

“Will you be joining us on our boating expedition, Wells?” Bellamy asks. Clarke’s eyes go as wide as Bellamy’s ever seen them.

“I mean if you-”

“No, Wells will not be joining us, what a stupid fucking question. Sorry Wells, I love you pal, but we don’t want you here and you don’t want to be here.” Both Bellamy and Wells let out long, relieved sighs.

Clarke and Bellamy climb into the boat, and Wells lets them out into the water. For the first 15 minutes or so, Clarke busies herself piloting the boat out into the lake, while Bellamy sits outside letting the cool breeze tickle his face. She meets him up on the deck with a cold beer and a warm kiss on the temple.

“Is this even legal?” Bellamy asks, popping the cap off his beer.

“Of course not, especially not for me.” She replies, taking a large gulp of her own.

“I love you.” He pulls her face toward his, and she does her best to avoid spilling their beers as she climbs onto his lap.

Their kisses are deep and long. Each glide of the lips or stroke of the tongue works harder and rougher, leaving them to sporadically gasp for air. Their noses drag against each other’s as they rotate their heads every so often. Both of their tongues and lips start to become sore, but they power through it, determined to know the other’s mouth better than their own. When Bellamy pulls Clarke’s tank top over her head is when she pulls back.

“How about lunch first.”

After much convincing, Bellamy agrees that lunch first is probably the most reasonable thing to do. Clarke cracks out the chicken caesar salads she made and they eat as quickly as possible, knowing what follows.

The empty salad containers are abandoned into the cooler, and Clarke pops her bikini top off immediately. She shakes her ass for him while she pulls down her shorts from behind, and then she straddles him again on the chair.

For the second time that week, they have sex on a lounge chair. As much as Bellamy liked having Clarke in various public places, the adrenaline and the novelty wear off after a while and he just wishes that they could have normal old sex in a bed.

“Why don’t we spend our week in August at my place?” Bellamy asks.

“I thought you didn’t want to have me over because of your roommates.”

“Well actually it’s just me and one of the other guys in August. Two of them are going home to their parents that week, and John’s never really around anyway so it’ll be like we’re there alone. I just really miss sleeping in the same bed Clarke. I miss waking up with you curled up in my arms. I miss watching your fluttering sleepy eyelids in the middle of the night when I can’t sleep. I miss staying in bed until 11:00 because neither of us wants to stop spooning. I miss bed sex, normal people sex, in a bed. Like I know we had bed sex last night but that was a novelty. Imagine bed sex every night.” Clarke continually nods in agreement with every point he makes.

“I’ll just run it by my parents. I’ve already shown you everything cool in this town anyway. Not like it’s any cooler down there, just I’m not heartbroken if you’re not coming back because there isn’t much else to do.”

“Then it’s settled.”

They both get up and pull their swimsuits on. Clarke climbs up onto the edge of the boat and dives head-first into the lake. Bellamy climbs up onto the boat’s edge, but hesitates.

“Come on in Blake, the water’s fine.”

He clambers awkwardly onto his feet and follows her lead. He squeezes her sides on his way up to the surface of the water, eliciting quite a loud squeal that he doesn’t hear because of the water.

“I can’t believe you said the water’s fine. This is cold as fuck.”

“Well sorry if you’ve only ever swam on the Atlantic coast of sunny Florida, but this is as damn fine as Lake Erie gets my love.”

“I’ve never even been to Florida.”

They both laugh loudly, completely enveloped in each other’s presence enough to forget about the cold for just a hot second. And then the icy water creeps to their bones, so they’re forced to swim around to keep their body temperatures up. When their lips start to go blue, they decide that it’s probably time they climb back into the boat.

 

The boat is docked and tied by 4:00 after one last bout of action on the lounge chair. Clarke cooks Bellamy a lasagna for his last night, which is far inferior to Murphy’s, but still delicious nevertheless. Abby pulls Clarke aside into the living room after dinner.

“Your dad and I have talked this through, and we think it’s alright if Bellamy wants to sleep in your bedroom tonight. In hindsight even, you’re an adult and it was inappropriate to tell you that he couldn’t.”

Clarke wraps her mom in a tight hug and repeats thank yous over and over. The four of them throw on an old movie in the living room and by the end of it the only one still watching is Jake. Bellamy and Clarke decide that they’ve had a long day, and turn in up to Clarke’s room together. They change into sleep clothes and ready themselves for bed, absolutely giddy the whole time.

“I’m gonna cuddle you to death tonight Clarke Griffin.”

“Not if I get to it first!”

He folds forward and tackles her onto the bed. He sucks kisses up and down the column of her neck until she stops giggling and takes his lips in hers. The comforter is pulled up over them, and of course Bellamy intertwines their legs. Their kisses become slower and slower as they go on. At first their kisses were wet and sloppy and carefree, but they develop to be slow, delicate, and meticulous, savouring every glide and caress.

After one last carefully placed kiss, Clarke burrows deeper into Bellamy’s chest. Even though he’s wearing a t-shirt, she can feel the warmth of his skin radiating through it. He surrounds her with his arms, and runs his fingers up and down the bumps of her spine.

For the first time ever she falls asleep before him. He wouldn’t have even known she was out if it wasn’t for the dramatic slow in her breathing. He brushes his lips over her blonde hair and listens to her loud breathing transition into a quiet snore, and from a quiet snore to a relatively loud rumble.

Eventually he’s too tired to be kept awake by Clarke’s obnoxious snoring, and manages to drift asleep himself. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll give you time to mentally prepare, the next chapter is actually gonna be pretty sad..


	18. Chapter 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bellamy goes back home, then Clarke goes over to visit at the Jaha house.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah this chapter is really sad guys, I'm sorry.

Bellamy is gone the next day after a series of long passionate kisses. After each kiss Clarke thinks she’s done, but decides she’s not immediately after and goes in for another. She’s desperate to suck up the last of his love before he goes away for months, though she knows she could never do it because his love for her is endless. Even when he’s sitting in the driver’s seat of his car, she continues to kiss him through the window until he pulls away. She crumples in a ball on the driveway when he’s gone.

Her parent are gone for the day so she decides to skype Raven. She was so wrapped up in Bellamy that she forgot to skype her the whole rest of the week.

“I assume you had a good week considering you completely forgot about me Miss Griffin.”

“I love him. I told him I love him.”

Raven does nothing but gape for at least 20 seconds, eyes flitting around the room trying to process the massive news that Clarke has given her.

“Does he love you too?”

Clarke takes to explaining Raven the situation detail for detail. While she tells the long and drawn out story, Raven cooes a series of ‘aww’s. By the end of it, there are tears brimming in both of their eyes, which is surprising to Clarke because Raven doesn’t cry much.

“Considering your love story is also embarrassing as fuck, wanna know how Wick told me he loved me for the first time?”

“Haven’t you already told me this story? I didn’t really think it was that embarrassing, pretty run of the mill if you ask me.”

“Well I’ve told you a fake story. Wick didn’t want me telling people the real one. It’s not even that embarrassing but for some reason it’s the worst thing ever to him. Anyway, it was probably like three or four months in, right around the appropriate ‘I love you’ time. I was over at his place for the night, and he had drifted asleep but I was still awake. I heard him mumbling in his sleep so I thought I’d listen in. Out of the mumbles came one clear, loud, ‘I love you Raven Reyes’. He must have been dreaming of telling me or something. Anyway, when he woke up in the morning, the first thing I said to him was ‘I love you too’, and he made the cutest most confused face ever. I explained everything to him and then we fucked.”

They hear an ‘I heard that’ come from another room in the beach house, and they laugh hysterically.

“Oh I miss you so much Raven. As much as med school sucks ass, it’ll be nice to go back just so you can be my roommate again.” Clarke is confused when Raven’s face goes sour as opposed to the sweet and delighted look she was expecting.

“Yeah, about that. Wick has asked me to move in with him during next semester, and I sort of said yes,” Clarke is speechless, so Raven keeps going, “But maybe you’ll get a new hot roommate like we were talking about and you two can, wait, I forgot about Bellamy. Damn sorry son, you’re screwed.”

Clarke hangs up they skype call and slams her laptop shut. Her fist comes down hard beside her pillow, and she wraps her head in sheets. Maybe she’ll just get a private dorm next year, that way she could have Bellamy over more. There would be less distraction from studying too. She sobs into her pillow for a few seconds more, then reopens her laptop and calls Raven back.

“I knew you’d be back for me.” Raven says smugly when she answers the call.

“This is literally shit Raven and I really don’t want you to move in with Wick, but I’m glad that this makes you happy. We’ll definitely still hang out, right?”

“Of course we will bitch, are you stupid?”

“Thank God. Anyway, Bellamy and I had sex on a boat yesterday, that was nice. I guess you guys have probably had boat sex too?”

“Well we don’t actually have a proper boat, but we do have a canoe. However, canoe sex is highly impractical and it did not last very long.”

They blabber on about nonsense for a while until Clarke’s mom gets home. Abby tells Clarke that Thelonious has invited all three of them over for dinner, and that Wells will be there this time.

 

The three of them get to the Jaha house nearly 15 minutes late. Clarke had texted Wells ahead of time to tell him, but that didn’t change the fact that the dinner is not cooked properly at all.

“The meal is very delicious, Thelonious, thank you.” Abby offers.

“Don’t kid yourself Abigail, lobster ravioli just isn’t the kind of food you can reheat. I’m sorry that it ended up this way. This is definitely the most rubbery lobster meat I’ve ever eaten, and that’s saying something.”

“No, no, it’s our fault, don’t worry about it. We’re the ones who showed up 15 minutes later than we were supposed to.” The conversation goes in this direction for nearly the entire rest of the meal. It still tastes good no matter the flawlessness of the execution anyway.

After dinner, Wells invites Clarke up to his bedroom. She sits on the edge of his bed and he tosses her a playstation controller. They play FIFA, like old times. Clarke wins every game, and not even by a close margin, but Wells doesn’t mind. After the game they both decided would be their last, Wells blurts something.

“I’m in love with you.” Clarke hears it loud and clear, but it takes her a while to wrap her head around it. She blinks blankly at the wall for just a second too long, which causes him to repeat it. In a moment of impulse, she turns sharply and slaps him across the face.

She watches her trembling hands in front of her, and reaches one out to comfort his reddened cheek. He moves her hand from his face to his leg, and she moves her hand from his leg to her own. He turns her chin toward him so he can look her in the eyes.

“I’m in love with you Clarke, I have been since elementary school. I’ve always just been too nervous to tell you how I feel, you’re just so beautiful. I love your eyes, and your smile, and the crease on your forehead when you think. Your laugh is so contagious, and your sense of humour is incomparable. You’re stubborn as fuck and my Lord you’re obsessive and compulsive, but I don’t care. You’ve known me for your whole life, and you’ve only known that other guy for what, five months? I think we’re obviously supposed to be together Clarke, wouldn’t you agree?”

Wordlessly, Clarke gets up and leaves the room. She doesn’t let the tears dance down her face until she’s safely tucked away in the treehouse her and Wells used to play in as kids. Her head hits the wall over and over, swearing to herself and choking out sobs. Obviously, she doesn’t have to decide between Wells and Bellamy. It’s just terrifying the thought that she could’ve just possibly lost the best friend she ever had. She hears someone creaking up the ladder, and prays that it isn’t Wells.

“Clarke,” Wells says once his head pops through the door on the floor, “just hear me out, okay?”

“There is no possible excuse for what you’ve done, why the hell should I hear you out?”

“Clarke, I’m- I’m dying,” Clarke’s stomach lurches and her head starts to spin. She hopes it’s some kind of sick joke, though her gut feeling tells her that it isn’t, “I-I was getting terrible migraine headaches. Like the kind of headache that you can try to sleep off but it still does nothing until you put yourself out with painkillers. Anyway, I went to the hospital and they did some scans, and I have an inoperable brain tumour. I have like a month to live, Clarke. So that’s why I wanted to tell you that I love you, I didn’t want to die not having said it. I wanted to make sure you knew.”

Clarke stands up promptly and vomits out the treehouse window. She turns back, buries her face in her hands, and slinks down the wall to the floor. Wells comes up beside her and wraps his arm around her shoulder, bringing her into his chest.

“You seem to be doing pretty well right now.” She chokes out. It’s worthless, and she regrets having said it because it’s just an invitation for more stories.

“I have good days and bad days. Some days are like this, where I just have a dull ache and I can power through it. Other days I’m in bed all day and I can’t even open my eyes because the light is too much. I told my dad there was no need to pay for any treatment or hospitalization, because I’m going to die anyway and I don’t really want to prolong my own suffering. I guess it’s kind of selfish, but I think in whatever last limbs they’d be able to put me on I really wouldn’t be that much of a treat to be around anyway.” Clarke is amazed by how at terms Wells is with this.

She continues to sob into his chest for a while. Although her sobbing all but subsides, she decides that it’s getting late and her parents would probably like to go home. They walk into the kitchen to a group of swollen, red-faced people, everyone a mess but Wells.

 

Wells passes three weeks from that day. Clarke spent every viable opportunity with him, and sometimes even when he couldn’t open his eyes she was by his side. When even whispers made his head pound, she would sit wordlessly beside him, offering silent love and moral support.

Bellamy tried his hardest, but couldn’t get the day off for the funeral. Clarke didn’t want him to waste his gas money and lose a day’s wages for the funeral of a guy he barely knew anyway.

 

In the week leading up to the funeral, Clarke is antsy and nervous. She’s never had to write a eulogy before, and it’s both depressing and intimidating. More than once, she spirals into a panic attack. It’s like year one of university, coming sometimes multiple times in a day, and leaving her in a state of breathlessness and uncontrollable sobbing. She works her throat raw from all the vomiting, and her eyes become swollen, dry, and sore from all the crying.

 

The funeral is small and quaint, with an attendance of around 50 close friends and family members. There are speeches from both Thelonious and Clarke.

“Every day this past week I’ve tried to visit Wells. I’ve gotten into my car, put the key in the ignition, and almost made it out of the driveway, every day. The denial usually lasts up until then. Then it comes to the uncontrollable sobbing and the slamming my head on the steering wheel until the horn jars my mom awake and she drags me into the house kicking and screaming.

Wells was like a brother to me. Through elementary school, I was at Wells’ house just as many hours of the week as I was at my own. It was really like I had two sets of parents. When Wells lost his mother, he was strong, he powered through it. I took it harder than he did really, he knew that nothing was permanent and he knew that everything happens for a reason and he knew not to worry too hard or too long about anything that couldn’t be changed.

Wells really lived his whole life like that. He was never disappointed about anything for too long. He was crazy into soccer. He never made a rep team, but he tried out every single year. Instead of letting it bum him out, he practiced harder and longer, giving up just wasn’t in his dictionary. And he was so bad at video games, I would beat him every single time we played the FIFA game, but every time I came over he still challenged me to it. I don’t think he ever beat me once, but he set his mind to it and kept trying.

I aspire one day to be like Wells. I aspire to be as driven, and hard working, and strong willed, and unstoppable. I could go on with adjectives for hours, but I don’t think anything I can say will fully encapsulate him. I promised myself I wouldn’t cry during this eulogy, but look at that,” She sniffles and rubs her eyes, “One of the last things he told me was not to be sad that he was gone. And how ridiculous is that? He told me not to be sad that he was gone, but rather happy that he was there in the first place. And like Wells, that sounds really conceited, but I guess it’s good advice. Instead of everyone here being a mess like me, let’s just be thankful that we all got to know Wells in our own way.” Clarke nods and carried herself off the stage, waiting until she’s seated between her parents to fall to pieces.

 

From then on Clarke no longer experiences the denial. It’s lodged in her brain from thenonout that he’s gone, and that he isn’t coming back. What she does experience though, is horrible, crippling nightmares which wake her up screaming in the middle of the night. At the start of it they come multiple times a night.

On the first night she lurches upward, half awake, sweat drenched and screaming. Her mom runs across the house and bursts into her room, concerned that she may have hurt herself. She’s confused when Clarke is sitting straight up in her bed and looking straight forward, no injury or attacker in sight. Abby takes Clarke’s face in her hands, and stares into her completely dead eyes. She runs her hands over her face and stirs her slightly, worried to hurt her in any way.

“Clarke, it’s your mom. Please wake up. Clarke, it’s me, I’m here, it’s okay.” The screaming stops, and Clarke slinks back down toward her pillow. After letting out a few groans, and rubbing her eyes, Clarke sits back up, this time actually awake.

“What happened?”

“You know just as much, if not more than I do Clarke. I came in here and you were screaming. Do you have any idea what could have triggered that?”

“I know I was having a nightmare, but I have no idea what about. This was probably brought on by trauma. Because of- because of,” She cascades into tears and folds up onto her moms shoulder. Abby encourages her to breathe regularly, and rubs her hand up and down her back, trying her best not to cry herself.

The next screams come an hour and a half later. Her mom rushes in again, says and does the same things, and again Clarke can’t remember anything about her dream.

It happens at least twice a night for the first week. Every morning Clarke wakes up tired, as far from refreshed as one can get. Abby is stressed, her and Jake talk about sending Clarke to a therapist, but Clarke refuses adamantly. She visited a therapist way back when for her panic attacks, and her opinion is that he made her worse.

Throughout the month of July, the night terrors settle down, by the end of the month usually coming only two or three times a week. Her mom walks in on her packing a suitcase.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m packing, I’m heading over to Bellamy’s in two days. You know me, always over-prepared.”

“Like hell you’re going to Bellamy’s. You are incredibly emotionally unstable, Clarke. I think you’d better stay home until we get these night terrors under control. You’ll have plenty of time to spend with Bellamy during the school year.”

“Mom, I love you, but I also love Bellamy. And he loves me too. If my nightmares come around while I’m over there, he’ll be able to handle it. He won’t mind. And it’ll be such a nice break for you, you’ll finally start getting uninterrupted sleep. I’m visiting my boyfriend this week and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

“Clarke! Don’t take that tone with me! I’ll discuss it with your father, but as far as I’m concerned you’re staying here until you’re stable.” Her mom leaves her room with a slam of the door, inviting Clarke to crumble into a heap in her suitcase and sob. Dinner that night is awkward.

“So your mom tells me you’re hellbent on visiting Bellamy next week.”

“He’s already taken the week off work, and it’s too late to change it. It would be so rude not to show. Plus I love him, and I miss him, and this will be the last chance we get to see each other for another whole month.”

“We’re just concerned about your mental health is all. Your mom and I have known you all your life Clarke, we know exactly what to do about your panic attacks and your anxiety attacks and your night terrors. Bellamy doesn’t. Bellamy’s probably never even had to help someone through an attack, what will happen if you have one?”

“I’ll talk him through everything when I get there. I’m not worried about panic attacks though, Dad. I haven’t had one in nearly a month. If anything I’ll probably have night terrors, but all you have to do with those is wake me up, then it’s smooth sailing. You should be relieved that I’m leaving, I won’t wake you guys up anymore.”

“You’ll just be waking him up. Are you sure you want to put him through that? I know he loves you Clarke, but are you ready for him to see you at your worst?”

“Mom! I’m an adult! I swear you always forget that I’m twenty fucking years old. If I want to visit my boyfriend, I can visit my fucking boyfriend. I’m going, and it’s final.” She drops her fork onto her half empty plate and storms out of the dining room. She doesn’t let the tears roll down her face until she’s safely tucked away under the covers. After the last couple months she’s had, she’s amazed not to be completely cried out.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't worry, there won't be any more sad chapters like this one (at least not for a while)


	19. Chapter 19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clarke and Bellamy have an awesome first night back together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Smutty at the beginning

He already has the door open by the time she’s out of her car. She leaps into his open arms, taking him in first before actually meeting his lips. His scent is all too familiar, and it makes her heart race just to breathe his air. When their lips do meet, they know there won’t be any interruptions. There are no parents there to stop Clarke from shoving her tongue as far into Bellamy’s throat as she can.

Somehow Bellamy manages to multitask. He gets the front door closed and locked and gets them up to his bedroom, trudging up the stairs in a fight against the gravity of Clarke’s weight. She weighs nothing to him, but her intensity makes her so hard to carry.

Just like old times, he gets her just inside the door, then pushes her hard against the back of it. Their lips catch each other in a frenzy, dragging and pulling against each other as they wrestle their shirts off. Their kisses are desperate and hungry, finesseless and graceless as they’re going for quantity instead of quality. They don’t stop until they’re breathless and gasping for air.

Once they slow down, Clarke’s fingers tangle themselves in Bellamy’s hair. She uses it to keep him from moving his mouth away from her lips. Technique comes back into the kisses as she attempts to refresh her memory of the dimensions of his mouth. Her tongue traces his bottom teeth, something she missed doing so much. Quickly, she remembers exactly where there are gaps, where the teeth overlap, and where they stick out from the rest. She traces every peak and valley of them countless times, then, all of a sudden, she stops.

She drops off of him to the floor and pulls his shorts and underwear down. Clutching onto his ass, she wraps her lips around his hard length. She kneads and massages his soft, cushiony cheeks as she brings her mouth up and down his shaft. She can’t get anywhere near his base without activating her gag reflex, but that doesn’t stop him from getting off. She lavishes him with her tongue, and grazes him gently with her teeth. He lets out a deep moan when she presses her tongue flat against his tip. When he comes, she swallows it. It’s not her favourite thing to do, but she’d rather not leave him to go spit.

She kisses her way up his body and back to his lips. Then it’s his turn, he rips down her bottoms and goes down on her just the same. Bracing himself on her thighs, he starts with quick plunges of the tongue. There’s no resistance, as she’s completely loose from arousal. He moves his attention to her clit, sucking and laving the swollen nub. Tingling pleasure races around her body until his chin and neck are wet from her.

They tangle up in bed, both completely exhausted but all too wrapped up in each other’s presence to care. Ballamy traces his index finger up and down Clarke’s side while she fixates on her favourite spot, his cheekbones. His hand stops in its path and clutches around her hipbone. He holds a sucking kiss to the corner of her jawbone, and she pours herself into it. No longer does she have to worry about needing to hide her bruises, it really is a relief not having to worry about her parents.

“It’s 4:00PM Bellamy, we can’t fall asleep here.”

“I have a better idea.”

She giggles incessantly as he flattens her out on the bed and starts sucking kisses into her clavicle. He traces a path up her clavicle, up the column of her neck, and up to her mouth, where he sneaks his tongue in and swishes circles behind her front teeth. He toys with her nipples while she reaches over to the bedside table to grab a condom, and slides it down his already hardened length. She’s impressed with how quickly he’s managed to rebound.

Even after the application of the condom, he drags the experience out to test Clarke’s patience. He continues to massage her breasts while she locks herself around him and tries her hardest to get him into her.

He surges down and forward with one quick blow, eliciting quite possibly the loudest gasp he’s ever heard. She cants up toward him, every muscle in her body wanting and begging for more. They try their best to co-ordinate their strokes, him jolting forward while she bucks up in a painful collision of hips. They keep it up for a while, but eventually the pain of the smashing bones outweighs the bursts of pleasure.

He continues to drive, arching his back to bring his lips to the corner of her jawbone. She figured out within a couple weeks of dating him that that’s his favourite place to suck. Now that she has freedom of her mouth, her moans and whimpers are well heard, something that pushes him harder and harder as he goes. With one final drive he goes over, rotating the both of them as his body slumps to the bed.

“I love you.” She says, before pecking a dainty kiss on his nose.

“I missed you so much.” He takes her bottom lip between his and pulls away, causing the kiss to linger for a while.

“We should get up. I don’t want to fall asleep in the afternoon. Let me make you dinner, what do you guys have in here?”

“Well first of all, I admire your energy. Secondly, we don’t have jack-shit in this house, I was planning on taking you out anyway.”

“Murphy’s?”

“I mean, if you really want to, but I was planning on taking you somewhere a little classier. I have no problem with getting lasagna, but I have a different place in mind.”

“Whatever you want my prince. We had my week and now we’ll have yours.” With that she trails off, dragging her hand across his chest on the way. He hears the shower turn on and he’s with her in an instant.

“Gosh, I love looking at you naked.” She says, running her fingers up and down the rugged, chiseled surface of his stomach. She zig-zags her finger through the valleys, noticing him cringe slightly because it tickles.

“And I you, my princess, and I you.” He stoops down to plant a firm kiss on the side of her neck, then guides her to follow him into the shower.

There isn’t really much cleaning that goes on in the shower. They spend their time dragging coarse kisses and playful nibbles across each other’s bodies. They’re just too excited to be back in each other’s presence to do anything productive. Clarke has no idea how she’s going to be able to keep her hands off of him in whatever restaurant they’re going to.

Soap eventually makes it’s way into their shower, and they rinse and dry off. Clarke realizes that in her frenzy to get him inside her, she forgot to bring her suitcase into the house, so he goes and retrieves it for her. Bellamy doesn’t tell her where they’re going, but he does help her pick out a dress that will be classy enough for it. Based on what he picks out for her, she knows they’re going to one of the more upscale restaurants she’s been to.

It’s about a half hour’s drive to the restaurant. It’s a Japanese restaurant called Mochigome. They walk in, and Clarke is amazed by how classy it looks. She’s been to many sushi restaurants in her life, but never one this classy. They’re usually brutally Americanized, but this one looks truly authentic.

“Reservation for Blake.” Bellamy says to the hostess as he approaches her counter. Clarke places her hand in the crook of Bellamy’s elbow as she leads them to a table in the corner by the window.

“Did you call and specifically book a corner window seat?” Clarke asks once the hostess has gone.

“Of course I did, I know you very well Clarke Griffin.”

They take out their menus and scour the endless lists of sushi and sashimi and maki rolls and hand rolls and soups and tempura, writing down each thing they like on the order sheet provided. The waiter comes by to take their order sheets and their drink orders, both of them only getting water.

“Salmon sushi, crab sushi, and shrimp tempura, and  for Mr. Blake, Miso soup, california rolls, and pumpkin tempura for Mrs. Blake.” The waiter says as he presents them with some of their dishes.

“Excuse me sir, we’re not-” He’s silenced by Clarke’s low shush and her hand stroking his. He meets her eyes, which tell him to drop it, “Sorry sir, never mind, thank you.”

“Why did you do that?” Bellamy lowers his voice to ask once the waiter has left.

“I don’t know, honestly. I kind of liked it though. Didn’t it feel cool to you? I mean I’m definitely not taking your name, but it felt kind of nice to be mistaken for a married couple.”

“I guess it did. Well, Mrs. Blake, let’s eat out sushi. Or would you prefer Mrs. Blake-Griffin?”

“Cheers, Mr. Blake-Griffin.” They giggle and clink their glasses before digging into their respective dishes.

“I can’t believe you wouldn’t let me pay! You’ve gotta start letting me pay for things Princess! I just want to be chivalrous!”

“Chivalry is dead Blake, and besides, if we’re married my money is your money anyway.” He laughs and loops his arm around her shoulder on the way to the car. He makes a large show out of opening the car door for her, which she responds to with a scoff and an eye roll.

In the car, Bellamy puts on a playlist of Oasis and Coldplay, and Ed Sheeran, which gets Clarke in a very sexy mood. But she remembers something, and turns down the music to say something serious.

“Hey Bell, I should tell you this now while I remember. In the past month or so I’ve been having terrible night terrors, which wake me up in the middle of the night screaming. They don’t come every night, but I want you to be prepared just in case. All you have to do is stroke my face, look into my eyes, and tell me that you’re here and I’m safe. That’s what my mom does, and it works pretty well. It’ll either wake me up or calm me down enough so I peacefully drift back off. I’m really sorry in advance if I scare the shit out of you, I really can’t control them.”

“Hey, don’t you apologize,” His hand cups her knee and brushes it with a thumb, but he keeps his eyes on the road, “I’m happy to do whatever need be to keep you as happy and comfortable as possible. It’s completely involuntary and nothing to be ashamed of.” There’s not an ounce of annoyance in his voice, though she knows full well that she could never annoy him with something like that.

They have sex again when they get back to Bellamy’s house, but it’s slow, and lazy, and tired. They have no energy to start it and negative energy to finish it. They can’t help but dull out afterward, even though it’s only 9:00PM.

She screams for a few seconds before it wakes Bellamy up. Even though he’s a deep sleeper, no one can sleep that deep. He does exactly as he told her to; he gets up to her level, stares her in the eyes, cups her face in his hands, and whispers encouragements to her until she snaps out of it.

At first she goes limp, but she begins blinking rapidly and eventually opens her eyes. It’s completely dark in the room, but he knows that she’s awake. He continues to graze her face with his thumbs, and she submits to his touch letting him hold more of her weight.

“Do you want to talk about it?” He asks.

“I guess so. These have been happening since Wells died. They used to happen all the time, but they happen less and less now. It makes sense that I’d have one today because it’s a new place. Anyway, I have no idea what the dreams are about, I can never remember them, all I know is they make me scream and sweat a lot. My parents want me to go to a therapist, but I will never go through that shit again, gosh he just made me so fucking stressed.”

“If you don’t mind me asking, when and why were you seeing a therapist before? Was it the same thing?”

“No, no, I used to have really bad panic attacks. Well actually I had quite a few a couple months ago. Anyway, these things basically incapacitate me in every way. My throat closes up, I start sobbing uncontrollably, I usually puke, it really isn’t pretty. My parents thought if they put me in therapy, it would relieve whatever stress was causing the attacks. It was the exact opposite result, it stressed me out so much more. Whenever I had an attack I would immediately be filled with the feeling that I was doing something inherently wrong. I would feel like I wasn’t supposed to be doing that, even though I had no control of it in any way. And what that did was amplify the intensity of the attack, I’d try to stop it which would just make it harder to breathe. They came more often too, whenever I was feeling panicky I would try to convince myself not to have an attack, which would stress me out and cause me to spiral further. So I eventually convinced my parents to get me out of that shit. So yeah, I guess now you know that I’m a fucking mental patient. Look at me, just full of fucking surprises.” She swallows hard in attempt to hold back tears.

“Clarke Griffin, I love you to the moon and back. I don’t care if you’ve had panic attacks or anxiety or anything, you’re only human. Octavia had pretty severe social anxiety when she was younger, I had trouble even getting her to school on some days. It was like she was trapped in the house and she couldn’t leave, she just wanted to stay in her room because from there she couldn’t embarrass herself or get in trouble. She didn’t really have anyone for moral support other than me, and let me be honest with you it was a lot of pressure. But we got through it, you’ve seen her at school now, she’s a fucking social butterfly. So don’t try to hold it back around me. I’m not trying to paint myself as some mental-health-miracle-worker, but Clarke, I know what I’m doing. You know I love you, and you know I care about your health, so if you need to let something out, let it out. If you need to complain, or yell, or swear, or cry, do it, do all of it. You can’t possibly scare me away Clarke. I love you too much for that.”

Clarke sits in silence, shocked more than anything. And then the tears come. She buries her head in his chest and she sobs. He runs his hands up and down her back, and encourages her to breathe, just as her mom did. The phrase ‘I told you so’ chimes in her brain, thinking back to when her parents said that Bellamy would be overwhelmed by her problems and wouldn’t know what to do. She smiles smugly while hiccuping sobs, something she never thought she could do until now.

When she brings her face out of his chest, he looks at her face even though he can’t see it in the dark. He brushes a thumb over her cheekbone, and another over her lips. His kiss is almost nothing. His lips hover over hers so close that she can taste his breath, then they graze over hers so gently that it could’ve been an accident.

Even though the kiss barely happened, a wave of calmness overcomes Clarke as it happens. She doesn’t open her eyes back up afterward. She lays back onto the bed, dragging him down with her, and tangles herself up with him. Keeping her eyes closed, she nestles deep into his chest, resting her forehead in the valley between his pecs. He can’t pinpoint the exact moment when she falls asleep, but he knows that she is when he hears her start to snore.

While she has no way of knowing for sure, Clarke is pretty confident that she just has the last night terror she’ll ever have.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really loved writing the end of that chapter. I'll be away for nearly a week so the next chapter won't be up for a little while longer than usual.


	20. chapter 20

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bellamy drags Clarke out for brunch with Octavis, but then they have a nice night together. *mention of self harm/suicidal tendencies trigger warning*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm finally back! Sorry it took so long, I'll be getting back to my regular schedule now.

“So what can I make you for breakfast?” Clarke asks once Bellamy wakes up.

“Actually, we’re going out for brunch today.”

“Does that mean I actually have to put clothes on before noon? What kind of tyranny is this?”

“If you don’t want to go I can cancel, I just thought it would be nice is all. Our reservation is for this really nice place called Carla’s, they have incredible fresh fruit and stuff.”

“No, no, I’ll come, because I love you.” She pecks a chaste kiss on his lips and hops out of bed. Already naked, she beckons him to the shower with her finger.

This shower is a lot quicker and on task than their first. They have to be to Carla’s in under an hour, so they wash and rinse and dry quickly, trying as hard as they can not to be distracted by the other’s naked body.

Clarke slips on a light, floral, summery dress, and Bellamy slips on a pair of khaki shorts and a golf shirt. The drive to Carla’s is far shorter than the drive to Mochigome, but they have an impossible time finding a parking space. They end up parking a ten minutes walk away from the restaurant, and push past all the people in line because they have a reservation. The host leads them to their table, but there’s already someone sitting there.

Clarke cautiously sits down across from the dark haired girl, who flashes her a fake smile. It’s hard to be mad at her when she radiates cheeriness, even if the cheeriness is a complete act.

“Hey Clarke! I haven’t seen you in so long! Bellamy didn’t tell me you were in town, I thought it was gonna be just me and him. Well, the more the merrier, am I right? I guess I’ll just have to third wheel like a loser. I would’ve brought Lincoln if I’d have known you were coming.”

“Well I wanted to surprise you guys. Neither one of you knew the other would be here. If I’d have told you to bring Lincoln I would’ve just confused you.” Clarke tries her best not to shoot Bellamy daggers so not to express her distaste to Octavia.

“So Clarke!” Starts Octavia, voice dripping with false excitement, “I haven’t seen you since my party. Well we didn’t even talk at the party, I didn’t even see you around that much. I caught your eye once or twice I guess. I was talking to people all night, so I’m sorry I couldn’t get around to you. Anyway, how have you been?” Clarke exchanges eyes with Bellamy, which tell her not to make any accusations just yet.

“I’ve been pretty good, life back home is nice, I’ve gotten to hang out with my parents and some old friends. How have you been?”

“Oh gosh, I’ve been so great! My boyfriend Lincoln and I are looking around for an apartment, he asked me to move in with him just a couple weeks ago. How exciting is that?”

Bellamy’s eyebrows go up like this is news to him. She shrugs to Bellamy and gives him a silent ‘sorry’ that she didn’t tell him sooner.

Bellamy flicks out his phone and types something quickly. Clarke feels a vibration in her pocket, which she excuses herself to the bathroom to read so not to raise suspicion. She doesn’t know if Octavia would notice if she received a text just as Bellamy sent one, but she doesn’t want to risk it.

“ **Don’t bring anything up just yet. Wait at least til we get our food. I want to have a nice time with my 2 girls until things get confrontational.** ” She doesn’t respond to the text, but she knows he’ll see that she’s read it. She figures she might as well use the washroom while she’s there, and then goes back to the table.

“Hey, O and I were just talking about the music festival happening just an hour or so out of here this week, her and Lincoln are going and she was wondering if we’d like to go with them? It’s mostly unknowns, but there are a couple pretty big names. What do you think?”

“Oh that sounds nice! Thanks for inviting us Octavia!”

“Anything for Bell.” Clarke tries her best not to scrunch her nose at the fact that she was not included in the sentiment.

The waitress comes and takes their order, and they keep talking about the boring dimensions of their summers and what they plan to get up to in their last month and other small-talky topics that Clarke loathes. Almost immediately once their food comes, Bellamy says:

“I know it happened quite a few months ago, but we never really had a good chat about your party. How’d it go?”

“It was really nice! Lots of dancing, lots of connecting with old friends, lots of stupid looking drunk people to laugh at. It was a great night!”

“You said you were going to invite our cousin Amanda, did she show?”

“Oh yeah, I had a little chat with her. She was actually asking about you, how nice is that?”

“Oh, is she the one you were trashing me to?” Clarke pipes. Octavia’s face goes blank, and she puts down the forkful of pancake that she was bringing to her mouth. Her eyes go to Bellamy, but he offers her no support.

“How much did you hear?”

“I heard that I’m a bitch, that I’m a smart-ass, that I’m uptight, and that Bellamy probably won’t be able to put up with me for much longer.” Octavia swallows hard, and keeps looking over to Bellamy. Every time she catches his eye, he nods her over toward Clarke.

“Well,” She starts, voice shaky, “I’m not gonna dispute that I said those things. I am gonna say though that I don’t appreciate this passive-aggressive bullshit. If you’ve got a problem with me Clarke, just confront me.”

“Said the pot to the kettle. You’re the one who was talking about me behind my back as opposed to addressing me and attempting to work out any problem it is that you have. I’m not even sure what I could’ve done to give you this impression of me.”

“You know what Clarke, I don’t like you. I just don’t like you. You’re bossy, and stubborn, and self-absorbed. That isn’t going to stop me from being kind to you. For Bellamy’s sake, I was going to try to be civil and pleasant around you. I didn’t want to start shit, because what’s the point? Obviously Bellamy loves both of us, and while we might bump heads, I think we should try put up with each other.” By the end of it, Octavia’s voice is oozing with confidence. She proudly picks up her fork and takes a bite of her pancakes. Clarke and Bellamy both know, that in some messed up way, Octavia ended up taking the high road.

There’s not much chatter from then on. They finish their food, and Clarke takes the bill for all three of them with no objection from Octavia, and just the regular objection from Bellamy.

 

“So how did you feel about that?” Bellamy asks once they get home.

“I feel really shitty about that. She’s right, that was super passive-aggressive, and even though she originally took the low road, I ended up on the bottom this time.”

“I don’t know how else we could’ve done that though, princess. I think we accomplished what we needed to there. Things aren’t patched up by any stretch, but you guys have agreed now to put up with each other. I still have hope that she’ll warm up to you with prolonged exposure.”

“She came right out and bold-facedly said she doesn’t like me. I don’t know how I can recover from that.” He sees the tears brimming in her eyes and changes gears slightly. He knows now that she needs sympathy over encouragement.

“You know what Clarke, it really sucks. It’s shit. I’m not gonna sugarcoat it in any way, I hate this as much as you do and I really just wish my two girls were a bit closer.” She scooches closer to him on the couch and rests her head on his chest.

“I don’t want to talk about this anymore.”

“Me neither.” He runs his hand up and down her side, and she hums gently. They twist their shape so their lips can meet, and a smile finally makes it’s way onto Clarke’s face.

 

Bellamy makes them some stuffed chicken breasts from his grandmother’s cookbook for dinner. Clarke begs to help make it, but Bellamy is insistent that she’s not allowed to look at the cookbook until they’re married. She thinks of proposing right then and there just for admittance.

After dinner they break the scrabble board back out. They make an actual bet this time that the loser has to give the winner head, even though neither of them are really opposed to doing so anyway.

Even though Bellamy wins, they both end up getting head because Bellamy ‘can’t help but pleasure his princess’. Afterward, they’re both physically tired, but not ready to sleep. Neither of them want to get out of bed, but they don’t want to doze off either.

“How about,” Clarke pauses mid-sentence to kiss Bellamy’s shoulder, “We play would-you-rather?”

“Well you’d better start us off princess, I’ve never been good at coming up with questions for this game.”

“Alright. Would you rather fuck me, or Scarlett Johansson.”

“Scarlett Johansson hands down. Next question.” Clarke laughs loudly at how little he had to think about it. She can’t be offended though, because she’d also much rather fuck Scarlett Johansson than him.

“It’s your turn to ask a question though.”

“Alright then, would you rather.. Give up sweet food or spicy food?”

“What kind of lame-ass question is that? But it’s definitely spicy food, as much as I love it, I could never win that fight against my sweet tooth.” She furrows her brow in ponderance of her next question, “Would you rather listen to nothing but Nickelback for 24 hours, or get your entire body except for your head waxed?”

“So in this case I’m listening to Nickelback for 24 hours straight?” Clarke nods, “Alright, I’m going for the full body wax. One time a friend of mine took me out to a nickelback concert, and I will never erase those sounds from my head,” He pauses to think, “Would you rather only be able to fuck guys or only be able to fuck girls for the rest of your life?”

“Well girls definitely have a track record of being a better fuck, but if I picked girls I could never sleep with you again and I don’t know what I’d do with myself. But then again if we were to break up.. I have faith in our relationship, I’ll go with guys.” He smiles smugly to himself and stares at the creases on her forehead while she thinks of the next question, “Would you rather break your own leg or someone else’s?”

“Well it depends who this someone else is, I mean if it was you or Octavia I’d break my own leg no questions asked.”

“Alright, you’ve never met this person before, it’s some random stranger. You have no way of knowing their character, or even who they are or what they look like. You have two buttons in front of you, one breaks your leg and one breaks theirs. Which button do you press.”

“Honestly Clarke, I feel like such a bad person for saying this, but probably theirs. I have a really bad habit of not thinking things through. I go with my gut instead of analyzing the situation. Which I guess is the exact opposite of you. That being said, I would feel so guilty afterward. It would eat me inside out.” His eyes stray away from Clarke’s, then he looks down at his wrist and strokes a thumb over it.

“What is it? You’re thinking of something.”

“When I was 15 years old, I slit my wrist. I don’t know if you can still see the scar, but it’s right here,” He holds his wrist out to her, but she has trouble making out much of anything under the dim light of the bedside lamp, “I was so fed up with my dad, I was mad at the world for taking my mom, I was under so much pressure trying to raise Octavia, and mostly I had become a really massive jerk and I wasn’t proud of it. One night I was home alone, I think Octavia was out at a friends house, and of course my dad was at work. I was emptying the dishwasher, and I picked up a pretty big knife. Without a split second of thought I slid it over my wrist,” He pauses in his story, but Clarke knows he’s not finished. She presses her lips to his wrist while he collects himself to continue.

“I was just standing over the kitchen sink, staring at the red pool forming in the basin. The cut was actually pretty deep. I was feeling sick and a little dizzy, but all of these thoughts started forming in my head. ‘You’re abandoning Octavia’ ‘She’ll never forgive you’ ‘How could you do this to her’. And then, if I’d have thought just a few seconds longer all of that would’ve come to me before I’d done the deed. I was pretty sure I was gonna die there. I had no idea how to stop the bleeding, and my head was so cloudy that I couldn’t make it across the house to grab a phone. And I was really so afraid of my dad that I figured he’d be mad at me if I got a bloodstain on the carpet. So I just stood there over the sink until I passed out. And yet I still make impulse decisions. Even after I fucked up so much, I just can’t stop doing it.” She doesn’t know if he has more to say, but by this point he can’t continue because he’s so choked up.

She cuddles closer up to him and kisses his cheek. He continues breathing heavily, so she attempts to calm him by drawing figure-eights across his bare skin under his shirt. She can feel that all of his muscles are clenched, like he’s trying to brace himself.

“You’re so tense,” She whispers, “It’s okay, you can relax.”

“I’m trying.”

“Bellamy, this is an isolated event that happened seven years ago. It’s the thing of the past, there’s no need to dwell on it. Just calm down.”

“I know, I understand everything you’re saying, this, it’s just so hard to think about. It’s so hard to think that if Octavia hadn’t forgotten her sweater at home I probably wouldn’t be here right now. I’m sorry Clarke, I’m really trying.”

“Alright, let me try something then,” She unfurls from his hold and guides him to lay on his stomach. His shirt comes off, she climbs on top of him, and she starts to work the knots out of his back. His back arches as she starts at the back of his neck, digging thumbs hard into the bunches of muscle. His moans, which started slow and sporadic, have turned into a constant rumble.

“Where did you learn to do this? This is fucking ridiculous.”

“I know a lot about muscles Bell, I am a pre-med. Raven has some pretty chronic nerve problems in her lower back, so I’ve given more than a few massages.”

He goes to respond, but whatever words he was going to say are stifled by a massive groan. She smiles smugly as she feels the knot unravel under his skin, and immediately moves down his back to the next one.

Once she’s done all she can with her thumbs, she attacks hard with her elbows. He bites down on his lip to stifle the pained sounds that would escape if he didn’t. Then she goes over the same spots again with the heel of her hand. A technique her mother taught her was to start small and technical with the thumbs, attack hard with the elbows, then slowly get more and more precise until the massage is finished. It’s advice she’s never heard anywhere else, but she trusts her mom and it seems to work anyway.

She continues pressing each part of her hand to each part of his back over and over until she feels he’s completely loose, touches getting more and more delicate as the process goes on. She finishes it off with a hard, flat palmed rub.

Then she’s on the bottom. She’s tackled to the bed and being kissed with such a vigor that her lips start to hurt. Her giggles are loud and clear even though his mouth is fit tightly to hers.

“You want to?” He asks, testing the waters to see if he should amp it up or slow it down.

“God no, I am far too tired for that.” So he leans off of her, keeping their lips connected as he turns to his side and collects her into his arms. His kisses gradually transition from long presses to short pecks, and then stop altogether. They take to tracing the bone and muscle structures in each other’s back to busy their hands and avoid sleeping.

For the first time, Bellamy takes a keen focus the thick, rigid muscles in Clarke’s back and shoulders. He always knew that her upper body was strong from all the rock climbing, but it isn’t until now that he realises just how strong. She of course, takes to tracing the curve of his ass, an opportunity that she would never pass up.

“It’s not fair that your ass is better than mine.” She whispers. Which cues him to grab and hold hers, wrestling a high pitched squeal from her throat. He murmurs ‘I love you’ to her through a butterfly kiss, which is his last major action before he drifts off. Clarke giggles, wishing there way to capture the spectacle of them each falling asleep with a firm grip on the other’s ass.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the sads.


	21. Chapter 21

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time for the music festival!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love this chapter so fucking much.

The day of the music festival seems to creep up on them. Neither of them were really giving it much thought, until all of a sudden the day is here and Clarke is filled with existential dread. From the moment the two of them wake up, Bellamy can tell that Clarke’s in a bad mood and acts accordingly. The first accommodation he makes is chocolate chip pancakes with extra icing sugar on top.

“I know what you’re doing.” She says, digging into the syrup-coated stack in front of her.

“And what’s that princess?”

“You’re trying to distract me, trying to sweeten me up so I’ll be pleasant to her. I’ll tell you right now that I’m going to be civil, but by no stretch does she deserve kindness.”

“Hey now Clarke, I’m not going to let you ruin this day. If you’re gonna be moody you can stay here and I’ll go out and have fun without you.”

“Fuck you Bellamy.”

“I love you too princess.”

He kisses the top of her head, then sits down across from her to pour syrup over his own stack of pancakes. They shower and dress, and gather everything they need in preparation for Octavia and Lincoln to come and pick them up.

Lincoln’s Jeep rolls up ten minutes later than Octavia said it would. Clarke and Bellamy hop into the back and are drowned in cheery hellos and apologies for tardiness. It’s the first time Clarke’s ever properly met Lincoln, but she already likes him a lot.

The drive to the festival is just over an hour long, and they spend a lot of that time talking about Lincoln. He refuses to talk much about work, because he doesn’t like people knowing how rich and successful he is. Octavia lets a few things slip about massive roles he’s picked up, but he quiets her quickly each time. Instead he talks a lot about his family, and growing up with a lawyer for a father and a psychologist for a mother.

“My mom would always try to analyze my father’s clients,” He says, “One time she was actually seeing one of them about some kind of depression thing without even telling my dad about it. My mother was always trying to help people, even when it was wildly inappropriate.”

“That must be where you get it from.” Octavia says, rubbing into his shoulder and looking up at his face. A grin creeps up on him, but he doesn’t take his eyes off the road.

 

“Fuck,” Lincoln mutters as they turn into the full-to-overflowing parking lot of the fairgrounds. Then a menacing look crosses his face and he swiftly turns them up a grassy hill, “Perks of a Jeep my friends. Watch your step on the way out!”

Clarke and Bellamy get out of the Jeep and make their way to the bottom of the hill, then turn back to watch Lincoln carry Octavia bridal style down after them. Clarke jokingly furrows her brow at Bellamy, as if to suggest he should’ve done the same for her. Knowing full well she should’ve expected it, she squeals as he hoists her up into his arms. Octavia shoots Bellamy daggers, so he drops Clarke just before Lincoln lowers Octavia.

The flood of people into the fairgrounds is massive and quite daunting. Clarke keeps a ridiculously tight grip on Bellamy’s hand in order to keep from separating. Lincoln and Octavia have a similar but different tactic, in which Octavia rides on Lincoln’s back piggyback style. Clarke rides up on Bellamy’s shoulder and whispers: “Why aren’t we more like that?”

“Do you want to be like that?” Clarke stares over at Octavia nibbling the shell of Lincoln’s ear.

“Kind of. I just admire how they can’t get enough of each other still, over a year and a half into their relationship.”

“Clarke, you’ve met Octavia, that’s all her. Octavia has just the right personality for that kind of relationship. Lincoln is not contributing to the dynamic at all, he just puts up with her and that’s enough. Do you really want that?”

“Of course not. I love you. And I love us. Just the way we are.” Their lips meet for just short enough time to not get completely trampled by the everflowing crowd around them.

“I didn’t expect it to be this busy this early,” Clarke starts, “I didn’t think it started for another couple hours.”

“Have you never been to a music festival before? Everyone wants to get as close as they can to the stage. This is around the regular time that people start showing up. The die-hards come before and the idiots come after.”

The four of them pick a patch on the grass that they unanimously agree is going to be the closest they can get without having to stand. The acts aren’t appealing enough for them to stay on their feet for the whole time.

Octavia reaches into the cooler bag and passes around bottles of beer. They take turns using the bottle opener, but Octavia stops Clarke before she can take a sip.

“We’re going to play a drinking game. I know it’s kind of lame with beer, but it’s the best we got. Didn’t wanna break or lose my only set of shot glasses, so instead of taking shots we’re just going to have to sip from these things. Everyone cool with never have I ever?”

“Alright, but I’m gonna set some ground rules. I would not like to know anything about my little sister’s sex life, so if we’re gonna do this we’re going to have to keep it rated G.”

“Fuck that, that’s lame as hell. I think we probably just have to think of a new game. Anyone got any ideas?” Octavia asks.

“Actually, I know one,” Clarke starts, “The game is called paranoia. We all take turns whispering questions in each other’s ears. The answer to the question has to be one of the people here, and the answerer has to say it out loud. If you’re the answer to the question, you have to drink, and if you want to know what the question was, you have to drink twice. And in order to keep it fun, it’s gotta be opinion questions, no fact questions. So like, I could ask Bellamy “which person here would you least want to go on a date with” and he’d answer that out loud, and then Octavia would have to drink because obviously she’s the answer to that. But I wouldn’t ask him “Which person here is your sister” because that’s just not the point of the game. Everyone got it?” Everyone nods in approval, then Clarke starts it off by whispering into Bellamy’s ear.

For the first few rounds it’s just questions and answers and drinking as normal, no one really prying for what the question was. It’s when Bellamy snorts a laugh and chokes out Octavia’s name that Lincoln wants to know what the question was.

“I asked him which person here he could most easily beat in an arm wrestling match,” Clarke says, “It was kind of a straight-forward question, but I couldn’t think of anything better.”

“Is that right Clarke?” Octavia starts, “Straight-forward? What makes you think that it would be any harder for him to beat you?”

“Is that a challenge?” Octavia dives forward and flattens herself out on the ground, holding her hand out to Clarke. Clarke smirks as she places her hand in Octavia’s, and with a count in from Bellamy, flattens Octavia’s arm to the ground in a matter of seconds.

“Well maybe I am just a skinny bitch then. I commend you Clarke Griffin, you’ve got yourself a pair of guns.” Clarke is amazed to receive a compliment when she was more than expecting an insult. The shock wears off, and she celebrates by kissing her flexed muscles causing Bellamy to fake a swoon.

A few rounds later, a question that is asked to be revealed is one that Bellamy asks Clarke. When Clarke answers Lincoln, Bellamy’s chin drops and he gasps audibly. Octavia and Lincoln both offer to drink simultaneously.

“He asked me which of the four of us would win the hunger games. Honestly Bell, you were my third choice.”

“And who’s your second then?”

“Me, obviously.”

“Hey!” Octavia calls, “Them be fightin words!”

“You wanna go then? Cuz I think we both know who would win!” While there is an aspect of intimidation in Clarke’s tone and body language, they can tell she’s mostly joking.

“Being the skinny bitch of the group sucks.” Octavia pouts cartoonishly, and Lincoln takes her puffed out bottom lip in his teeth. Bellamy and Clarke look at each other in disgust, but accredit it to the fact that both Octavia and Lincoln are already well into their third beer.

The final question that needs revealing is one that Octavia answers. She ponders Bellamy’s question for a few seconds, then confidently states ‘Clarke!”. The confused look that shows up on Bellamy’s face means that Clarke needs to drink.

“He asked me who I’d most like to go out for drinks with!” Octavia answers.

“And you chose me?” Clarke does nothing to hide her astonishment.

“Yeah. I think the beef we’ve got going on is bullshit. We need to pave this road once and for all and the only way that’s gonna happen is if we try to put up with each other. Plus, you’re not half bad once you’ve got a couple drinks in you. Takes the edge right off.” Clarke can’t help but beam.

“Well lets get drinks some time then. Maybe not this week, but definitely once the term starts. And I won’t drag Raven along this time, she hates you.”

“Figured as much.” The girls share the first laugh they’ve shared in a while, and Bellamy can’t help but laugh too. They know he’s just delighted that his two favourite ladies are getting along. The peace is disturbed by a shout.

“It’s starting!” Octavia takes Bellamy by the hand and drags him into the crowd of people that are swarming closer to the stage. Bellamy manages to mouth a ‘sorry’ before he’s completely consumed.

“That wasn’t fake you know.” Lincoln says.

“Huh?”

“I know that girl like the back of my hand. She wasn’t making that stuff up, she was genuine. I don’t know if it’s the alcohol talking or if she’s actually warming up to you, but either way it’s nice to see.”

“And what’s it to you?” It’s a truly curious question, not rude.

“God she bitches and moans about you all the time. It’d be nice if you two actually patched things up so she can stop with the incessant whining.” Clarke chuckles at that, because of course it’s completely believable.

“I hope this doesn’t come off as rude, but why her?” Lincoln laughs, which is a relief.

“I ask myself this question all the time Clarke. We really don’t make sense, which I think is part of what drives it in some weird way. She’s so wacky and out there, and I’m so plain, I guess we even each other out. This is really cliche, but when I first laid eyes on her I knew she was the one. I would find myself doodling her all the time in my notebooks. I was pretty worried it was weird and obsessive, so it was a massive relief she was pining after me just the same. I’m so left brained too, I perform and I write and I draw, my work is so creative and out there but I’m so colourless. And she’s just the opposite. She’s a massive math brain. She’s so smart, with her math and her science and her law, but you’d never think just to look at her. Teaches you not to judge a book by it’s cover I guess. And teaches you that opposites attract. I’m sorry, I’ve been going on about this too long now.”

“No, no, don’t worry about it. You guys really are a big ticket item, nobody knew how long you guys would last, but look at you now. I used to hate you Lincoln, did you know that?” Lincoln’s eyebrows pop up.

“Oh? Can I ask why?”

“You stole my girl! I had a massive crush on Octavia in first year. And she was my first non-hetero crush too. Taught me full well not to fall in love with a straight girl ever again, I’ll tell you that much. I crushed on her for a good five months I think, then you swooped in and I just gave up.” Clarke takes a swig of her beer and looks toward the stage. The lead singer of the band is still delivering some kind of monologue, which has been going on since Bellamy and Octavia left.

“Well I never hated you Clarke.”

“Obviously not, what’s there not to love?”

“Those are Octavia’s grounds my friend. I’m sure she’s made a list somewhere.” They both laugh, and with that the music starts.

 

Bellamy and Octavia are back a few songs in. Bellamy hunkers down beside Clarke on the blanket and wraps his arm around her, saying something derogatory about the music that she can’t make out for the life of her. He sucks a beer flavoured kiss onto her lips, and she leans in for more.

Like Octavia said that time they went out for lunch, it’s like he forgets everyone else is there. His breath, along with his tongue, come in hot and drunk. He sloppily runs his tongue over her teeth, and slides his hands up her back under her shirt. She manages to free his hands without disconnecting the kiss, letting him be drunk and disorderly as much as he wants as long as it’s within the confines of her mouth.

“How many beers have you had Bell?” Clarke asks.

“I think I’m working on my fifth. I’m just a little buzzed. Don’t worry about it.” His hands start working up her shirt again, so she pushes him all the way back this time, lips and all. After he promises to behave, they connect for a few more quick pecks.

 

Bands cycle through until a more exciting and upbeat one comes up and hour and a half later. Clarke climbs onto Bellamy’s back as he rushes her into the crowd, Lincoln and Octavia staying back to watch their stuff. As soon as her feet drop to the ground she races in front of him and looks up at him. She grabs his hands and starts to twist and spin as much as she can within the confined area. He humours her, but also spends a lot of the time laughing at the reactions people give her when she bumps into them.

“Alright, we’re gonna slow it down a bit now. I asked a friend of mine what song we should cover here and this was his suggestion. He told me to say it goes out to Clarke Griffin. You’re a lucky girl Clarke.”

Clarke, who was looking up at the stage, spins 180 degrees on the spot and looks into Bellamy’s eyes.

“What did you do?”

“You’ll see.”

“ _I’ve been roaming around, always looking down, and all I see. Painted faces fill the places I can’t reach. You know that I could use somebody. You know that I could use somebody._ ”

Tears are already wetting Clarke’s eyes, and she folds her arms tight enough around Bellamy’s waist to make it hard for him to breathe.

“How did you know I love this song? I don’t think we’ve ever talked about Kings Of Leon before. I never talk about Kings Of Leon.”

“Remember Friday, June 5th?”

“Of course I do, how could I forget?”

“Well on the way up to Niagara Falls, this song came up on your dad’s playlist. You didn’t say anything at all, but the way your eyes smiled, I’ll never forget. Now pay attention to the song, don’t waste it.”

She keeps her arms around his waist and bows her head into his chest. He wraps his arms around her too and they sway there, like a middle-school slow dance. He can tell she’s trying to hold in her sobs, because when they come out they’re choked and strangled.

“ _Off in the night, while you live it up, I’m off to sleep. Waging wars to shape the poet and the beat. I hope it’s gonna make you notice. I hope it’s gonna make you notice._ ”

The both of them join in on the next part, Bellamy off key because he can’t sing, and Clarke off key because she can’t possibly sing well through her tears.

“ _Someone like me. Someone like me._ ”

She interlocks her fingers behind his head, curling them into his hair. They stare into each other’s eyes for a few seconds before she ravishes his mouth with her own. For just a few moments, it’s only the two of them there. There’s no music, no crowd, no stage, no band, just Bellamy’s warm mouth.

“I love you.” She murmurs. He doesn’t return it in words, but instead with the renewed intensity of his kiss.

 

“I’ve gotta commend you big brother. That was a fine-ass move. How do you know the singer of that band anyway?” Octavia asks when the two return.

“I’ve lived with him for nearly three years Octavia. I thought you knew my roommates.”

“Does anyone know your roommates?” Clarke starts, “As far as I can tell they don’t use any of the rooms in that house besides their bedrooms. They’re either tucked away or out. I’ve only ever met one of them.”

“Which is how I knew you would be surprised. I was just worried about Octavia noticing and ruining it.”

“Why don’t you do that stuff for me Lincy-Poo?” Lincoln rolls his eyes, not bothering to respond. They both know that what he does for her is more than enough.

 

For the rest of the day, everyone takes shifts going into the crowd for certain bands. They run out of beer pretty quickly, and discover that they didn’t bring nearly enough snacks. Lincoln suggests that they leave a few acts early so they can at least duck some of the traffic, and everyone is too tired and hungry to oppose.

Everybody complains the whole ride home, because they’re all sore, tired, and hungry, and still a little drunk (except for Lincoln of course, because he knew he’d be driving and stopped drinking after their game).

After Lincoln gives in to everyone’s incessant pleading for food, they hit a McDonald’s drive-thru on the way home. Lincoln threatens to remove the hands of anyone who gets a stain on the interior of his Jeep, muttering something afterward about ‘his baby’. Everyone laughs but Lincoln, which is quite terrifying to Clarke.

Bellamy and Clarke are dropped off, and they exchange hugs, including a meaningful-feeling hug between Clarke and Octavia. Bellamy is in bed and asleep before Clarke is even in the front door.

Clarke brushes her hair and her teeth, puts her pajamas on, and washes her face before climbing into bed with Bellamy. His eyes don’t open, but he mumbles and wraps her up in his arms. She knows he’s still asleep, which makes it even cuter that he begins to hum the tune of Use Somebody.


	22. Chapter 22

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clarke and Bellamy make a biiiig impulse decision

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> smut warning right near the end

“It’s our last full day together Bell, what do you want to do?” She asks when he greets her in the shower.

“Well, unlike you, I’m shit at planning things in advance, so I have nothing in mind. We could go see a movie?”

“Bellamy, that’s lame as fuck. I hate the movie theatre, and it’s such a solitary thing anyway. You can’t interact with each other in the movie theatre, so what’s the point?”

“You could’ve just said no. Do you golf?”

“I’ve been out golfing a few times, yeah. I don’t have clubs though.”

“Well it’s a good thing I’ve got Octavia’s clubs in the garage then, isn’t it? You up for it.”

“Sure, why not. After lunch though, it’s too early for that shit right now.”

He agrees non-verbally, and causes her to squeal and giggle as he sucks on the top of her breast. He licks and sucks his way up to her mouth, and gives her a firm kiss. She’s already all cleaned up, so they both scour Bellamy’s body with soap. Clarke abandons Bellamy to rinse himself while she towels off and gets started up on breakfast.

“Wow Princess, it smells good down here.” He creeps up behind her and pushes aside her wet hair to plant a kiss behind her ear.

“All I’m doing is warming up some of those muffins in the microwave, but sure, I guess it smells nice.” The smell actually reminds her of the time they spent slaving over bowls of muffin dough. If she’d have knows you can’t stir muffins with an electric mixer she would have chosen a different recipe.

She fixes up the coffee and puts the muffins on the table. They’re quiet for the first few bites and sips, but once the caffeine starts flowing through them they become a little more awake.

“Should I take a private room this year, or press my luck with a roommate? Perks of private room are less distraction and more privacy, but loneliness is a massive con. Pros of a roommate are friendship obviously, but what if they suck?”

“Well I don’t think you have enough room for any more friends. You were struggling to keep up with Raven and I all last year. But I do see the appeal of wanting a roommate. Living alone would drive me crazy.”

“But your roommates are never even around!”

“It’s just the comfort of having them here I guess. But I think you’re a lot more comfortable on your own than I am. Although maybe you shouldn’t be alone what with your history of panic attacks.”

Clarke thinks for a quick second, then blurts: “What if you were my roommate? I mean you know my ins and outs, I wouldn’t have to balance another friend, and I love you.”

Bellamy’s eyebrows shoot up, and he looks up from his bowl into Clarke’s eyes. Stupidly, he asks: “Do they have co-ed rooms on campus?”

If Clarke had any food or coffee in her mouth, she would’ve done a spit-take.

“You’re such a dumby sometimes. I meant maybe we could.. get an apartment together?” Bellamy feels stupid for not having relised what she meant, but decides not to draw attention to it.

“Of course! I mean, as long as it’s affordable.”

“Don’t be silly, you do whatever you can and I’ll take the rest.” Bellamy grumbles at that, but he knows it’s what he should and wants to do. He starts to feel less and less guilty every time he takes money from his millionaire girlfriend.

“Well how horrible does golfing sound to you now?”

“It sounded horrible earlier, but now it sounds worse. I believe it’s in our best interest to go apartment hunting this afternoon.”

Before Clarke has even finished the sentence, Bellamy already has his laptop out on the table. They decide they’ll each pick out two apartments that appeal to them, and then look at them together and possibly pick out a couple more. They end up with five apartments that they think are worth trying out, and manage to get appointments all in that day. They eat lunch on the road on the way to their first place.

The first apartment is a trainwreck. Not only is the rent pinching their budget, but needlessly so. There’s not much room for more than a bed in the bedroom, and the washroom is about the size of a closet. They cross that apartment off their list as a definite no.

The second place they try is definitely far better. It’s quite a bit under the budget they set, and it has quite a sizeable living room if they ever wanted to have friends over. Just as they’re about to put a checkmark beside this place on their list, Clarke checks the kitchen cabinets and finds a large cockroach. After that they can’t seem to stop noticing them. They leave that apartment with a no as well.

The third place they try is ridiculous. The paint is peeling, there are water stains on the ceiling, the flooring in the bathroom is extensively warped. They don’t even have to debate that one, and they’re in and out of it within three minutes.

The fourth place is relatively flawless. Not only is it the second cheapest place on their list, but it’s everything that they need. The bedroom is small, but there’s definitely enough room for a queen-sized bed and a dresser for each of them, and there’d also a closet that can hold any dresses or shirts that need to be hung. Although the bathroom doesn’t have a tub, only a shower, they both confirm that’s all they’ll need. They decide it’s still big enough for them to comfortably shower together. The kitchen, Bellamy says, has just enough counter space, and enough room to fit the oven that no one but Bellamy uses in his house. The dining room is big enough to seat four, which is about as many people as they figure would ever be in the house at once. It would be perfect for having Wick and Raven over. Finally, the living room has enough space for a mid-sized couch and a couple chairs, some of which Bellamy will also be able to take from his house.

“I don’t think we even need to check the other place, I think this is pretty flawless.” Bellamy says.

“I can’t help but agree. And if we sign the lease now, it will expire in a year, just in time for you to move your stuff over to a place near the teacher’s college.”

“Clarke, I think this place is only like a half hour or 45 minutes from the teachers college, I could just commute. We can live here until you graduate.”

“Bellamy, I’m not graduating for like 500 years. But we don’t need to think about this now, right now we just need to sign the one year lease. You with me?”

They each sign the lease, and Clarke writes a cheque for the first and last month’s rent. And then Clarke realises that she hasn’t even told her parents that she’s moving in with Bellamy. She decides she won’t let it bother her just yet, because they have to make a lot of accommodations to make the apartment liveable. The first being kitchen appliances.

“You figure your roommate would let us borrow his pick-up truck?”

“Yeah, if he’s home. Let me call him.”

Bellamy calls his roommate, who, like always, is in his bedroom. Clarke and Bellamy drive up and grab the truck, as well as the oven, a loveseat, and Bellamy’s dresser and take them over to the apartment. They know they won’t be able to completely move in that night, so they don’t take the mattress just yet.

Then they go buy a refrigerator, and a microwave, and a toaster, and a coffeemaker, and a couch, and a TV stand, and a TV. Bellamy doesn’t mind letting Clarke pay for all of it, because it’s thousands of dollars that he’s just thankful he’s not spending.

By 6:30, the apartment looks like somewhere that people could actually live (aside from the bedlessness of course). They go to Murphy’s for dinner and fill themselves with lasagna and cheesecake, then retire back to Bellamy’s.

“It’s only 7:45 Bell, do you figure we could pack all this stuff up and be moved in by 10:00?”

“Do you want to?”

As soon as he’s finished the question, she’s out of bed and folding up Bellamy’s stuff. They throw his clothes into garbage bags because they can’t find any cardboard boxes lying around. Once they’re done packing up and moving all of the contents of Bellamy’s bedroom into the truck, it’s 10:15. They have everything into the apartment by 11:00.

Once they’re finished with moving in for the night, Clarke throws herself onto the bed and sighs. He lays down beside her, but they don’t touch, they just look up at the ceiling.

“I think that’s the biggest impulse decision I’ve ever made.” Clarke tells the ceiling.

“Maybe I’m rubbing off on you,” He pauses, “You’re going home tomorrow right? How soon will you be coming back?”

“I don’t think I’m gonna tell my parents we’ve moved in together. I don’t think they’ll approve. I think I’m gonna tell them that they’re opening the dorms a week early this year because last year it was pretty hectic. That way I’ll be home for a week, then I can move in.”

“You’re leaving me here to fend for myself for an entire week? You know how lonely I get, Princess.”

“Well actually, I don’t think they know that Raven is moving in with Wick. I can tell them that Raven and I found a place that’s cheaper than living on residence, but we have to move in immediately or someone else can take it from us, that’s believable right?”

Bellamy rolls over onto his side and takes Clarke by the face. He tells her he loves her before pressing their lips together hard.

“Wanna have new apartment sex?” Bellamy asks.

“Are you crazy? We’ve been lifting heavy furniture all day. Maybe in the morning.”

 

The morning comes and they’re both completely stiff and sore. Any fantasy they had of morning sex the night before makes them wince in pain to think about. A hot shower loosens their muscles just slightly, but anything that takes even a little bit of effort is simply excruciating. They can’t even massage the other’s shoulder, because the exertion is just too much.

They each have about three times their normal share of morning coffee, which results in some upset stomachs, but it’s worth the ability to open their eyes all the way. All they have in their fridge is a carton of eggs and some milk, and all they have in their pantry is a loaf of bread and a box of mini wheats. They each have scrambled eggs and toast.

They both decide that they really just need to sit and lay around until Clarke has to leave. Her parents want her home for dinner at 5:30, so she has to leave at 2:00. Clarke breaks out her laptop and skypes Raven.

“Bitch you haven’t skyped me in a week what gives? Couldn’t you get his dick out of you for just a second to talk to your best friend?”

Clarke pans the camera over to her left, to show Raven that Bellamy is waving at her.

“Stop hoarding my friend, I need her as much as you do.”

Clarke sets up the laptop on a TV table so Bellamy and Clarke can both be in the shot at the same time. Raven squints her eyes for a second.

“Where are you? This doesn’t look like Bellamy’s house.”

“Have I ever skyped you from Bellamy’s house before? Do you even know what it looks like?”

“Fair enough, but this place is too clean to be the home of four twenty-something boys. Where are you?”

The smile that crosses Clarke’s face completely gives it away. She doesn’t even have to say it.

“Did you really? Oh my goodness! My little Clarkey is growing up! Wait do your parents know? How could they ever allow this? You didn’t tell them did you?”

“Nope, and I don’t plan on it. I’m gonna tell them that you and I are still living together, but off-campus. So if they ask you about anything you’re just gonna have to lie a little.”

“Anything for my two favourite love-birds! Oh my goodness this is so exciting! And you guys are moved in before Wick and I are, fancy that!”

“Well you guys have been living together the whole summer, just not in your own house.”

They talk to Raven for a while, Bellamy pitching in every so often but mostly holding back to let the two girls catch up. They order in a pizza for lunch because there’s nothing in the house to eat, but they can’t be bothered to go out.

They put the last of her stuff away and he bids her goodbye with a meaningful kiss. She promises she’ll see him soon.

 

She surprises him by showing up unannounced on Tuesday night at 8:00. He wasn’t expecting her until the next day at least. They’re wrapped up in each other on the bed before she can even squeeze out a hello.

Their first kisses are frantic and toothy. Even though they’ve only been apart for a few days, it feels like an eternity to Bellamy alone in the apartment. Clarke’s mouth continues to topple aimlessly over Bellamy’s while she slides her hand into his pants. She grabs tightly around his hardened length and works her hand up and down the shaft. His hot moans echo into her mouth.

She kicks off her underpants but keeps her dress on. She grabs the condom from her bra and slides it onto him, then climbs overtop of him and gets him into her. Their hips come together hard over and over, him guiding her up and down with his hands on her hips. She rocks and bucks to the best of her ability, but they both know he’s far better at topping and he flips them over.

Suddenly, there’s a new intensity. Speed and force multiply because they both know exactly what they’re doing from this position. Clarke’s moans come breathier and more strangled while Bellamy buckles down hard enough to rock the whole bed frame. Fingernails claw at his back and his ribcage; her legs rest low to his calves. A chorus of ‘Bellamy, please,’ reaches his ears, resulting in a vigorous climax.

He slides himself out of her and subs in two long crooked fingers. Everything clenches as shocks spread across her from his thumb on her clit. He pumps in and out until she’s screaming his name, and it’s not long after that that she finishes.

“God, I needed that,” She breathes as the last of his weight comes off of her.

“I love you so much,” He brushes hair from her face, and cradles it to suck a kiss onto her lips.

“So how did you get along in here without me? Please tell me you didn’t break anything.”

“I stocked up the fridge and the cupboards, and I bought us some dish soap and some sponges because we didn’t actually have any. And we got a housewarming gift from Octavia and Lincoln, come check this out.”

After pulling his boxers up, Bellamy guides Clarke to the living room, and gestures to the massive picture frame above the TV. It’s shaped like three hearts, and there’s room for about 15 photos in it. Each slot has a different photo in it, there are only a few that have both Bellamy and Clarke in them, and they’re all from their trip to Niagara Falls. The pictures of Clarke and Bellamy are in the centermost heart, because it has the biggest sections. The leftmost heart has pictures of Octavia and Bellamy as kids, Bellamy’s high school graduation, as well as other pictures of Bellamy’s childhood. The rightmost side isn’t completely full, but it has a few pictures of Raven and Clarke, as well as a few pictures from Clarke’s facebook page.

“I’m sorry it’s not completely full, you probably have some more pictures of you somewhere but my only resources were your facebook and Raven.”

Tears are building up in Clarke’s eyes, and she wraps her arms tight around Bellamy’s neck. She pecks his cheek, and stares back to the picture frame across the room.

“Did you really do all this?”

“Octavia helped me with the pictures on my side, but yeah, the rest was me. I hope you like it okay.”

“Like it? Are you kidding? Fuck Bell, I love this so much! I’m gonna call Octavia right now!”

Clarke flicks out her phone and presses Octavia’s contact. She answers after the first ring.

“Clarke?”

Bellamy counts the total number of times Clarke says thank you throughout the call, and comes up with 11 at the end of it. While Clarke knows that Octavia only got them the gift because of Bellamy, the thoughtfulness is still incredibly touching. After a minute or so of chatting, Clarke covers the mic of the phone and turns to Bellamy.

“Do we have any plans Saturday night?”

“Not that I can think of, why?”

Clarke takes her hand off the phone and says: “Sure, Saturday’s great, I’ll pick you up at 9:00.”

They spend the rest of the night moving Clarke’s things from her car into the apartment. She brought a desk-lamp, some knick knacks, and a few paintings from her bedroom to spruce up the living room a little. Every little touch makes the place just that much more homey.

For a moment, Bellamy just stands to the side and watches Clarke twirl in the center of the room. She radiates a joy so much that he can’t help but smile, and then can’t help but join in. They dance there in the middle of the room to no music at all, so wrapped up in each other that they don’t notice the time go by. She runs at him and leaps into his arms, and he holds her above him by the underarms. It’s like a scene from a movie; they stare longingly into each others eyes and spin until his arms give out and she wraps her legs around his waist.

They flop on to the bed, hearts pounding and breathing heavy. They scooch back so their heads are on their respective pillows, and turn to face each other.

“I love this apartment. I love it here so much. And I love you. Maybe I should make impulse decisions more often.”

“I love you too.” By the end of it his words are just a vibration on her lips.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Writing this chapter required a lot of research about apartment hunting on my part :')


	23. Chapter 23

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clarke and Octavia hang out and have some drinks, then there's a housewarming party.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So originally I had this written that Clarke and Octavia went out to a bar for drinks, but then I was like "Wait, they're underage, this is not legal," and I had to rewrite a bunch of it :') I guess that's the thing with being Canadian and writing American characters, they seem old enough but they're really not :p

Bellamy drives Clarke over to Octavia’s apartment for their first ever girls night. He agreed to drop her off and pick her up so she doesn’t have to worry about getting too drunk to drive. Clarke shows up in jeans and a t-shirt, expecting Octavia to have the same respect for the get together as her. Instead, Octavia welcomes Clarke at the front door full-clad in pajamas.

“Don’t have too much fun without me,” He calls to Clarke as she disappears into the front door of the apartment complex.

“So,” Octavia says when the two are sitting at the table, “Are we gonna talk about my brother the whole time?” She lets a bit of sass leak into her voice, but Clarke shrugs past it. After they get some alcohol in them she knows it will be far less rough.

“Not if you don’t want to. I’m sure you get sick of it so you can steer the conversation if you’d like. I’m happy to talk about anything.”

“Look at you being all mature. So what are you studying chica?”

They talk about school for longer than normal people would, but they’re both just happy to not be arguing. Clarke learns that Octavia is really passionate about law, but she has no way of paying for law school. Lincoln has offered to help her out countless times, but she really has trouble with the thought of taking his money. Its interesting to Clarke to see what stuff her and Bellamy have in common.

They finally move on from talking about school and start talking about interests. Their music taste isn’t very similar, there are a few overlap bands but Octavia is more into pop whereas Clarke, being the ‘miss original’ that she is, likes listening to lesser-known alternative bands. Bands like The 1975, who Clarke listens to religiously, Octavia knows a couple of the big hits like ‘Chocolate’ and ‘The City’. Clarke refuses to be associated with anything Octavia listens to.

Octavia is really into horror movies, while Clarke prefers comedies and action films. Clarke has seen the odd horror movie in her time, but doesn’t really understand the appeal. Octavia says that she’s basically seen every single movie that has a rating higher than five stars on IMDB.

They start talking about TV shows next. Clarke isn’t surprised to learn that Octavia is into dramas like Grey’s Anatomy, as well as trashy reality shows like The Bachelorette and Big Brother. Clarke is shocked, however, when Octavia bashfully reveals that she loves Dancing With The Stars.

“Fuck! I thought I was the only person under 50 that watched that show! I have so much of this shit pent up in here and I need to let it out, I hope you don’t mind.”

“No, please, I’m in the same boat. I could’ve sworn it was only me, gay guys, and suburban moms who watched this show. Talk to me about it homegirl!”

They go on and on about which male dancers they think are the hottest (both having a personal preference for Derek Hough) and Clarke has to hold herself back from drooling about the female dancers too. She just can’t stop herself from talking about Alison Holker’s legs though, and is beyond relieved when Octavia agree that she has the best thighs she’s ever seen.

They’re both delighted and surprised at the other’s extensive knowledge of the show, conversation getting back to six seasons ago. Not only do they have enough means for hours of discussion on the topic, but they have similar opinions on all the dancers.

“We’ve gotta watch this next season together buttercup. I tried watching it with Lincoln once, and gosh it all bounced right off of him. Which is really surprising because he’s actually into that stuff, like he’s a pretty good dancer. I guess there’s a difference between being good at dancing and being interested in dancing. Anyway, I need someone to go full white mom with about this shit and you look like the star candidate cakepop.”

“I’d be honoured to be your Dancing With The Stars bitch. It’ll be a relief to have someone other than Raven’s mom to talk to about this shit.”

“Alright, I feel like it would be pretty pointless if we didn’t at least talk about Bellamy a little bit. Go for it dollface.”

“Okay, I am super curious about this recipe book but he refuses to show me it.”

“Nope, never. That book is only available to Blakes, if you want to read it you’re gonna have to marry him because there’s no other way. When my grandma passed, she said if we ever showed it to anyone that’s not part of the family she would curse us. Of course she was joking about the curse thing, but the message still stuck, no cookbook unless you’re at least part Blake.”

“So would I have to wait until like the full on marriage ceremony? Or like what if we got engaged, could I look at it then?”

“I mean I guess so, but isn’t that kind of weird to propose to him just because of a cookbook? I think if you really want to get married then sure, propose to him, but how crushed do you think he’d be if you married him just to get to his cookbook?”

“Okay, well that’s obviously not what I meant Octavia. Now that I’m living with Bellamy, is there anything that I should know? I mean I’ve lived with him briefly before, but now that it’s a permanent thing I assume it will be a little different.”

“He does not fucking wash dishes. He puts the fucking dishes in the sink and never fucking washes them. I swear to God I have never seen him wash a single fucking dish in his life. And there’s no point in even trying to get him to do it, I’ve been trying for my whole fucking life and it’s the one thing he never fucking listens to me about. You’re gonna be washing a lot of dishes hotlegs.”

“Well I guess washing the dishes is pretty manageable, anything else?”

“I don’t know if you guys have cable, but if you do prepare to watch the Food Network constantly! He’s like a closet food junkie, and it doesn’t even make sense because all he ever makes is from the recipe book. It’s a sickness, he sucked me into it for a few months but I managed to claw myself out of that disaster. Also he never stops doing pushups. If you guys are watching a show or a movie together be prepared for him to randomly start doing pushups or situps or squats or something. He’s fucking ridiculous.”

“Yeah, I’ve been exposed to the pushups madness, it’s quite impressive how many he can do in one sitting though. As for the Food Network, we decided we don’t need cable. We’ve got Netflix anyway. Have you been watching Orange Is The New Black?” Upon Octavia’s ‘no’ Clarke vehemently insists that she needs to and it will change her life for the better.

Clarke takes her phone out of her purse, “It’s quarter to 12 O, maybe we should call Bellamy. I’m sure he’s itching to go to bed my now being the old fart that he is.”

“Of course, just one more thing. I’m a lil drunk so I’m gonna get sappy as shit here, bare with me. I’ve never seen him love anyone as much as he loves you. Sometimes I feel like he even loves you more than he loves me. You’ve really lucked out with this one sugartits.” The nickname catches Clarke off guard but she collects herself quickly.

“Thank you Octavia. And I know there’s no way that he loves me more than he loves you. Your name makes it in at least once to every one of our conversations.”

“I could say the same Clarke. I’m gonna call him now.”

The girls go outside and wait for Bellamy to pull up. When he shows up, Octavia gives Clarke a hug and then slinks back into her apartment.

“So how’d it go?”

“It went so well Bellamy! At the beginning of it she seemed kind of harsh but by the end of the night we were chatting and giggling like we’d known each other for years. Also, she’s my Dancing With The Stars buddy now!”

“You watch that shit too? She tried to get me to watch that once and I might as well have been pan-frying my brain. It’s nice that you two have something in common though!”

“One thing that was kind of weird though is she called me sugartits? Is that normal for her? Cuz it was kind of uncomfortable.”

“Yeah that’s Octavia for you. The nicknames get more and more inappropriate as the night goes on. And that’s a popular one, she calls me that sometimes too.”

Clarke can’t help but laugh, wondering how drunk Octavia would have to be in order to call Bellamy sugartits. He does, however, have very nice pecs, but Octavia wouldn’t key into that.

It’s late, so they go to bed right when they get home. Like always, their legs are intertwined, but that’s basically all that’s touching when they fall asleep.

 

 

Bellamy brings Clarke breakfast in the morning, which is a pleasant surprise. Clarke has a mild headache from the night before, but nothing too debilitating. She pops some pain killers and is well enough to sprawl around the house. She shushes Bellamy every time he tries to speak though.

“Maybe you should go back to bed Princess.” Bellamy suggests.

“Actually,” She says, slowly sitting up, “I think my tylenol is finally starting to kick in.”

“Oh thank God.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Right at that moment the front door flies open. Raven, Wick, Monty, and Jasper all pile in wearing party hats and blowing noise makers. Clarke dives head first into the couch cushions.

“What’s her deal?” Raven asks.

“Just a little hung over is all. She’s getting over it, just give her a second to adjust.”

Clarke crawls out of the couch just enough for Raven to think it acceptable to launch herself into her lap. Clarke, knowing it’s no use to fight it, wraps her arms around Raven and tries to put on as pleasant a face as possible.

“I didn’t know you were coming back yet! I thought you were staying until right at the end of August.”

“Yeah, we were going to, but then the fridge broke so we figured we might as well just come home and leave it to Wick’s parents to deal with. Happy housewarming beautiful.” Raven presents Clarke with a bottle wrapped in pink wrapping paper with a purple bow around its neck. Clarke opens it and sees a label for a very classy, and very expensive white wine.

“You guys didn’t have to spend this much! This brand is super expensive holy shit. Well let me just treat you guys to some of this.” Clarke goes to take the bottle to the kitchen, but Monty stops her and hands her a large box wrapped in blue paper. She reveals a set of wine glasses and shot glasses.

“Oh thank you so much Monty, we actually only have two wine glasses anyway, I was gonna serve you guys this in water glasses!”

She opens the box, pops the bottle open and pours six glasses of wine. Clarke is the first to take a sip, skeptical of why everyone would be watching her do so. As soon as she tastes it she does a spit take.

“This is fucking vodka! How did you fucking seal vodka into a wine bottle?”

“Wick’s parents finished off a bottle of that stuff so he snagged it, then we filled it with vodka, stuck a cork in it, and wrapped it in saran wrap, then painted it green. I’m amazed you didn’t notice how shitty the plastic cover was for such an expensive bottle of wine.”

“Well if we’ve got a bottle of vodka this big, and a new set of shot glasses, I figure it would be stupid not to play some kind of drinking game. Who’s up for never have I ever?”

Everybody puts a hand up, Bellamy being fine with it because at least his sister isn’t there. They each take a seat around the living room and Clarke tops up their shot glasses. Clarke takes it upon herself to start.

“Never have I ever.. Stolen something over twenty dollars from a store.”

Bellamy and Raven both drink, scoffing about rich kids or something. Monty is next to go.

“Never have I ever.. Had sex with a girl.”

Everyone drinks except for Raven. Then Wick suggests sex with a guy and everyone drinks except for Bellamy.

“Weeding out the bi and the pan here are we?” Clarke accuses. Jasper makes a noise of approval, but everyone knows that neither of them really mind having to drink.

“Never have I ever.. Had sex with two different people in under 24 hours.” Raven says. Bellamy and Clarke stare each other in the eyes as they drink, both knowing full well that the other has done it. There’s something ironic about the two infamous one-night-standers pinning each other down.

“Never have I ever..” Starts Jasper, “Been in a three-way.”

Bellamy and Clarke stare each other in the eyes as they both drink again. The game quickly down-spirals into a game of ‘is there anything Bellamy and Clarke haven’t done?’. Each time it comes around to Bellamy or Clarke’s turn, they try to salvage it with something innocent like ‘Never have I ever crashed a car’ or ‘been pied in the face’ but it does nothing to deter the others from their challenge.

The questions get more and more graphic as it goes on, Bellamy and Clarke even surprising each other with a few of them. Clarke drinks at ‘Never have I ever had a whole fist inside of me’ and Bellamy drinks at ‘Never have I ever received a hand-job during a lecture’.

“Come on guys, this is getting really intense. Can’t we tone it down a little?” Bellamy asks.

“Not until we find something that neither of you have done.” Raven replies.

They keep going, Bellamy and Clarke getting more irritated with each drink they take. It gets harder and harder for the four of them to think of stuff, Raven going for a cheap one and saying ‘Given or received anal’ causing all of them but Wick to drink.

They’re all pissed drunk, and there’s about two shots worth of vodka left in the bottle. Finally, Monty comes up with it.

“Never have I ever.. Given or received a hand job while driving”

Neither Bellamy or Clarke drink, both wondering what person would be stupid enough to drive distracted like that. Their wonders are answered when they notice that Wick took his shot.

“What the fuck is wrong with you!? Were you trying to get killed? How are you supposed to drive with a hand in your pants? When was this? Why didn’t you stop them? Did you ask them to do it? Was there traffic? Fucking hell you’re so fucking stupid why are we dating? What the hell Kyle? Seriously what the hell?” Not only is Raven yelling and ranting, but everyone knows that she’s dead serious because she called him Kyle. No one ever calls him Kyle.

“I was 18. We were driving back to my place after prom. She was getting really handsy and I didn’t want to slow her down. In hindsight it was pretty stupid, but near the end of it I did actually have to pull over.”

“Good lord Kyle, sometimes it’s so hard to be in love with you.” She says nuzzling into his shoulder and throwing an arm across his chest.

Clarke puts the last shot’s worth of vodka into Wick’s glass, and they all take one last shot of the liquid already in front of them.

“Shit.” Raven looks over at Wick, and he raises an eyebrow, “We can’t leave, we’re all hammered.”

“I was planning on cooking tonight but I don’t think that can happen based on the fact that I don’t even know if I can make it all the way to the kitchen without falling over right now. I guess we’ll just have to order in.” Bellamy explains.

They all pool money for three pizzas and three boxes of fries, which are devoured in the blink of an eye. Raven grabs the happy housewarming cake she brought from the kitchen and doles it out to everyone. Dirty dishes are strewn across the living room, nobody sober or awake enough to bother putting them in the sink. The guests fall asleep in their own little corners of the living room, and Bellamy and Clarke make it to their bedroom before they pass out.

 

The next morning is horrendous. Coffee is gulped down like it’s water, and enough painkillers are taken to knock out a horse. Nobody really even says any words or makes any noise until they’ve each had at least a whole mug of coffee.

“What the fuck is wrong with us.” Are the first words said. Everyone grunts and moans in response. Bellamy has just enough bread in the house for everyone to have one slice of toast, and each time the toaster pops there is a chorus of moans due to the loud beeping noise. Clarke and Bellamy wait for the others to be out of the house before they get in the shower.

“Oh God this is just what I needed right now.” Clarke feels the muscles in her back loosen as the hot water buffets her.

“This is the worst hangover I’ve had in years. Not until now have I ever regretted having so much sex.” Clarke laughs.

“Tell me about it.”

It takes ages for them to finally get each other clean. Clarke takes a break in the middle to throw up in the toilet, and Bellamy eventually ends up seated on the shower floor. Bellamy calls in sick to work and they both go back to bed. They don’t wake up until dinner time, but at least they’re a bit relieved. 


	24. Chapter 24

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Raven throws a Hallowe'en party

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> smut mid chapter (BDSM tw)

The first couple weeks of the school year hit hard. They were used to sleeping in and staying up and going out on day-trips, but all of that is wrenched from their hands. Bellamy’s work schedule switches back, so he’s back to working every day of the week, and until 8:00 on weekdays. They rarely even have dinner together anymore, Clarke usually ends up going out with Raven, Raven and the guys, or Octavia. When she doesn’t go out, she usually makes something for herself and Bellamy, and lets him eat what’s left over when he gets home.

Clarke’s relationship with Octavia constantly gets chummier and chummier. A new season of Dancing With The Stars has started, so Clarke and Bellamy go over to Octavia and Lincoln’s every Monday night. The girls watch the show in the living room while Lincoln and Bellamy chat in the kitchen or go out for drinks. Not only did the Dancing With The Stars situation forge a stronger friendship for Clarke and Octavia, but for Lincoln and Bellamy too.

Hallowe’en comes up in the blink of an eye, and obviously it’s Raven’s favourite holiday so she’s throwing a party. October 31st is a Saturday, so Clarke is at Raven and Wick’s all day helping her set up and decorate. Clarke thinks Raven may be going a bit overboard, but Raven is paranoid that she doesn’t have enough. There are at least five skeletons visible from any location in the house, as well as random bones and severed body parts lying about the floor. Cobwebs and spiders dwell in every corner, and Raven replaces all of the lightbulbs in the house with dim orange ones.

Clarke and Raven help each other get into their costumes. Raven managed to convince Wick that they should do Morticia and Gomez from the Addams family, and Clarke and Bellamy are going as a police officer and prisoner.

Wick gets back from his shift at 8:00, and the first thing he does is scoop Raven into his arms and suck her face. If only Monty and Jasper were there for Clarke to do the fake gag joke with.

“Get into your costume! People are gonna start coming soon and Morticia Addams can’t be making out with Kyle Wick, she’s gotta be making out with Gomez.” Raven uses her thumb to wipe some black lipstick off of Wick’s face, then takes him back into the bedroom to get changed.

The next people to show up are Bellamy, Octavia, and Lincoln. Bellamy came with Lincoln and Octavia because Clarke’s car is already there, so they can drive home together.

“Are we drinking tonight?” Clarke asks Bellamy after pecking his lips when he walks in.

“I don’t think so. I wanna get home and play with these.” Bellamy toys with the handcuffs attached to Clarke’s belt. She fake gasps and places the tips of her fingers over her mouth, but then winks at him.

Clarke can’t help herself from frequently flitting her eyes over to Octavia and Lincoln. Not only are they an incredibly attractive couple to start with, but neither of them are wearing much clothing at all. They’re dressed as a caveman and cavewoman, wearing enough to cover their bits and nothing else. They’re both wearing very short skirts, Lincoln is wearing no top and Octavia is wearing just a bandeau style thing. And Lincoln’s abs are ridiculous. Plain ridiculous.

“Clarkey!” Octavia yells and launches herself into Clarke’s arms. Octavia looks like a small person to start with, but she weighs even less than Clarke thought she would. After a few second of full body hug, Octavia drops herself to the floor. As much as Clarke is fully confident that she isn’t hot for Octavia anymore, the closeness still makes her nervous.

“Somebody’s looking hot today Clarkey, good lord you’ve got quite the pair.” Clarke’s policewoman top is low cut, tight, and cropped, the only kind of women’s hallowe’en costume on the market. She does, however, like what it does for her waist and boobs. And at least it has pants as opposed to an impossibly short skirt or shorts.

“Says you! Look at that little waist of yours! And I swear whenever you wear skirts it makes your legs look like six inches longer.” And she’s barely exaggerating.

Clarke notices Raven frowning from across the room as she continues to talk to Octavia. Even though Raven has made it quite clear that she’s not Octavia’s number one fan, Clarke hopes that won’t get in the way of anything.

People continue to trickle in little by little, Monty and Jasper dressed as ketchup and mustard which is totally cute. Clarke has absolutely no idea what the stance of their relationship is and she doesn’t know if it’s appropriate to ask. She does it anyway. At the first pop of the question there are a lot of ums and uhs, both of them are a lot more troubled by the question than she’d expected.

“I think it’s a friends with benefits type thing?” Monty says, then looks over to Jasper for approval. He’s met with a nod.

“Yeah, like we’re not dating by any stretch, but we do have sex quite often. I hope that’s not too weird to say?”

“No, don’t worry about it, you guys know far too much about my sex life know so I don’t think it’s possible for you guys to TMI me.”

By this point there are about 25 people piled into Raven’s apartment. It’s pretty crowded, but everyone seems to be having a pretty great time. Wick comes up from behind Clarke and taps her on the shoulder. When she turns around he drags her by the wrist into the bedroom. He takes out a box and shows her a ring.

“I’m gonna propose to Raven tonight.” He says. It takes all in Clarke’s power not to slap him across the face.

“Are you a fucking idiot? She doesn’t want you to propose to her while she’s dressed as Morticia Addams at a fucking hallowe’en party. Right now, she is slammed and she is dancing on a chair in your kitchen to the Monster Mash. There are nearly 30 people in your apartment. This situation literally couldn’t be less special. Please tell me you’re joking or something.” When Clarke sees tears coming up in Wick’s eyes she knows he’s drunk too.

“I’ve had this ring for nearly a month now Clarke. I just want to get it over and done with but I just don’t know how! I don’t know if it’s that I’m not ready, or if I just don’t have any balls, but I can’t fucking do it. I’m amazed she hasn’t noticed it in my coat pocket because I carry it around everywhere. Are we too young? She’s only 20, I’m 23, that’s not too young is it? She’s turning 21 really soon, she’s turning 21 in February. And we obviously won’t be married until after she graduates. Which isn’t for another year and a half. What do I do Clarke? What do I do?”

“Which comes first, your two years or her birthday?”

“Her birthday is February third, and our two years is January 29th. Oh maybe I could do it on New Years? Or Christmas? Oh I should definitely do it on Christmas! And I know exactly how I’m gonna do it. Thanks so much for the help Clarke. Thank you.” He kisses her on the cheek and slides the ring box into his sock drawer. Clarke takes it out to take another look at it, and it really is a beautiful ring. She puts it back where Wick left it and goes back out into the party.

“Wanna blow this popsicle stand?” Bellamy asks Clarke as soon as he finds her.

“We’ve only been here half an hour, I think it will be rude to leave this early.”

“Do you really think she’ll remember?” Bellamy points over to Raven who is ‘bobbing for apples’ with her entire head dunked in the barrel. Clarke nods and lets him escort her out.

They bustle out of Raven's apartment and into they're car, both giggling at the thought of what they’ll do when they get home. They discuss what they're going to do, and pick out a safe word. Neither of them have ever done this before (which comes as a surprise to both of them), but they know the general guidelines of what they have to do to ensure it's safe and healthy.

Once the door to their apartment is shut, the immediately stop being Clarke and Bellamy and become a police officer and an escaped convict.

“Put your hands where I can see them! Up against the wall. Spread your legs.” He does everything she says, then she begins to frisk him. She pays extra attention to his ass and crotch, which obviously doesn’t surprise him. She doesn’t take it easy with the cupping.

“Alright convict, now I’m gonna have to do a strip search,” Bellamy reaches behind his neck to get the shirt over his head, but she stops him, “I don’t want any funny business convict, I’d better do this for you.” She slips her hands under the hem of his shirt and pushes her hands full palmed over his sculpted body until the shirt is over his head. She drops to her knees to pull down the pants so she’s face to face with his package.

Cupping, squeezing, rubbing, and patting, she explores his naked body. Whenever he makes any movements, she’s sure to stop him. He lets her take her time, because he knows she’s enjoying herself.

“Now, you know you’re not supposed to try to escape right. You’ve been a very naughty boy convict and I think I’m going to have to discipline you. Come with me inmate.” The toy handcuffs make a dull clicking noise as they close around his wrist. He drags behind her into the bedroom, then is shoved hard onto the bed. The plastic chain of the cuffs loops behind a bar of the bedframe, and the other cuff clicks around his wrist. Red scratches swell on Bellamy’s skin as Clarke drags her nails up and down his torso. The smooth tan skin of by Bellamy’s hipbone is nibbled and sucked, but a yelp comes when he’s bitten suddenly.

Then she moves up to his neck, placing her lips by his pressure point. She tricks him again by being gentle, then suddenly bites down which causes him to jerk against the handcuffs. Quick kisses powder his lips, then she has his lower lip firmly in her grasp. She pulls back until he’s straining against the cuffs to keep her from ripping his lip off.

She trails her way back down his body, dragging her teeth and her nails all the way to his dick. She can tell he’s hesitant as she takes him into her mouth, nervous that she’ll hurt him. More care is put into this part, because she is both scared to hurt him and pretty done with the whole sadism and masochism thing anyway. More of her focus is centered on giving him a good blow job. It’s toothier than usual, which puts him on edge, but it ends up staying pretty tame. Lots of tongue and lips is interspersed with the occasional graze or rake of her teeth.

He groans when she almost sends him over, but not quite. Her motive is displayed though, when she reaches for a condom out of the bedside table and slides it onto him.  By this point she’s done trying to hurt him and just wants to fuck him silly. She’s too impatient to extend the foreplay any longer. Her bottoms come off.

She licks and kisses her way up to his mouth, then shifts herself over him so he’s inside of her. Topping isn’t her forte, but there’s no way for her to bottom with him still cuffed to the bed. She thrusts herself up and down, enjoying watching his face contort as they collide. The chain of the cuffs rattles as her force shakes him. For a plastic hallowe’en accessory, it has quite a lot of integrity.

The closer he gets to coming, the more she can tell that he just wants to put his hands on her. His groans echo louder and louder until he finishes, and she immediately undoes his cuffs so they can hold each other. They turn onto their sides on the bed and fold up in each other’s arms.

“What did you think of that?” Clarke asks.

“I didn’t mind the scratching and biting and stuff, but the handcuffs really sucked. I thought it was gonna be cool and kinky but really they just got in my way.”

“See I liked the handcuffs because I could just kind of do my own thing and you couldn’t do anything to stop me, I liked being in power. I didn’t like the scratching and biting though, I hate hurting you.”

“Well I think it was good to try that once, but I don’t think there’s any reason to do it again. I guess it’s just something we can now add to our infinite list of things we’ll have to drink for in never have I ever.” Clarke begins to undo the buttons of her costume, sighing in relief as she’s no longer encased. Bellamy places a kiss on the top of each of her breasts and she cooes to him.

“I think after all that hard work you need to be finished off too my friend.” She giggles incessantly as her pins her to the bed and starts sucking kisses all over her chest and neck. Once she’s sufficiently wet, he shoves two fingers into her and starts at a slow rhythm. His head comes to rest in the crook of her neck, and she loops her fingers in his hair. As he speeds up, her back arches more and more and her head leans further and further back. He begins to nibble on her earlobe.

“So,” He whispers, “Fisting, huh?”

“No! Never again! That was horrible! I don’t know how anyone could like that! It didn’t feel like sex, it just hurt! Oh my God I couldn’t walk right for a week. You know what I am so turned off now get your hand out of me,” He does as she asks, and grabs her hip to turn her into him. He apologizes for ruining the mood and kisses her a few times up and down her mandible, “I can’t believe you brought that up.” She shudders and cuddles into him.

 

The next morning in the shower she tries her best to kiss every scratch and bruise and bite mark on Bellamy’s body. His wrists have gone pretty green, so she spends a sizeable amount of time on those. She helps him cover them up with make-up, because she doesn’t want him to raise any eyebrows at work. She’s just about to check on the 20 snapchat alerts she got from Raven when she gets a call from Octavia.

“Hey Clarke. Do you happen to have my pink sweater over at your place? I can’t find it anywhere.” There’s no excitement in Octavia’s voice, so she assumes that she had a late night.

“Let me check the bedroom,” Clarke covers the mic of the phone and looks around the house. Sure enough, Octavia’s bright pink kangaroo hoodie is in a slump on the floor, “It’s here O. I assume you don’t want to come over here and get it, should I drop by?”

“That would be stellar, see you here in a few.” They hang up, and Clarke gets ready to go out. Octavia isn’t hung over when she shows up, but seemingly just dog tired.

“I noticed you and Bell left early last night. You missed a Morticia Addams strip tease that was violently ended by ketchup, mustard, and cookie monster. It really was a sight to see. Poor Raven is probably having the worst day of her life right now.”

“Wow, that really sounds like a marvel. Raven sent me like 20 snaps and I’m a little hesitant to open them.”

“Well maybe we should go through them together. Open ‘er up.” Clarke takes out her phone and scooches up to Octavia so they can both see the screen. The first few snaps are photos and videos of Raven dancing and shouting and making out with Wick, but the next few are surprising.

“Did you know about this?” Clarke asks Octavia.

“Of course I did!” Octavia starts, continuing to watch as Clarke taps her way through snap after snap of Raven and Octavia chumming it up. There are pictures of them smiling, hugging, dancing together, kissing each other on the cheek, and just generally having a really good time, “I thought you’d be really excited to see this so I figured I’d let you see it for yourself. She was drunk off her rocker and was getting super close with me. I figured I might as well try it out and we ended up having a really good time. If she remembers anything at all from last night she definitely doesn’t hate me anymore.” Clarke throws her arms around Octavia’s neck and presses a hard kiss on the cheek.

“Oh God I was so scared that I was gonna have to balance hanging out with you and hanging out with Raven! I’m pretty sure she was starting to get jealous of how much time we were spending together, so if we can all chill at the same time you guys won’t have to fight over me anymore. Goodbye friendship triangle!”

They chat for a while about the party, Octavia having more drunk Raven stories than Clarke thinks possible in just one night. And then Clarke remembers something and steers the conversation in a different direction.

“Okay this is going to sound weird considering Christmas is two months away, but I’ve been wracking my brain for a gift for Bellamy and I can’t come up with anything.”

“You’ve still got two months to think about it sugar, don’t get too worked up about it.”

“Well I was just wondering if you had some insight. You know him a hell of a lot better than I do.”

“Well I’m sure you’ve heard him complain about his laptop a lot, you could get him one of those. Maybe you shouldn’t spend that much though, I know he’s pressed for cash and wouldn’t want you to spend a lot more than he does. I was planning on getting him a slow cooker because one of grandma’s recipes that he wants to make really needs one, but you could get that for him if you want and I’ll think of something else. Really anything to do with cooking he really likes.”

“Alright, thanks O, I’ll keep that in mind. I just want it to feel special, you know? I think if I get him a laptop or some cooking stuff he’ll like it, but it also won’t be something amazing that he wasn’t expecting or anything. I still have two months though, plenty of time. I was thinking of inviting him to come up with my parents for Christmas. Do you think that would be a good idea?”

“Well I don’t know how he’ll feel about it, but I sure won’t like it. Bellamy and I have always spent Christmas together, usually just him and me. And Lincoln’s going home to Arizona so it would make me very lonely. I’m not trying to guilt you away from inviting him or anything, just don’t invite him.” She pastes a fake grin on her face as she says the last words. It’s kind of rude, but of course it’s typical Octavia. Then Clarke gets a potentially very stupid idea.

“What if you came too? It would be like a big old Blake-Griffin get together. I’m hoping you’ll be my sister some day so you might as well meet my parents now.”

“Okay! I’ll run it over with Bellamy, and you run it over with your parents, but that sounds really nice. Bellamy tells me you’re rich as fuck so I’m excited to count your bathrooms. I say that in the least condescending way possible.” Clarke frowns and casts her gaze at the floor.

“There are eight.” But Octavia laughs loudly which quickly brings the same reaction out of Clarke.

“I actually have a pretty funny story O, and if you’re gonna come over and meet my parents it’s probably best you hear it from me before they tell you themselves. Alright so I’m gonna preface it by saying I had a massive crush on you in first year,” Clarke pauses to let Octavia react, but she’s surprised when there’s really no change of expression, “Wow, I thought you’d at least react a little to that.”

“You think I didn’t know? Clarke you still stare at me sometimes, but the way you stared at me in chemistry class I swear to God you could drill a hole through me with your eyes. And TBH that’s pretty much the main reason I was trying to shove a wall between us early on. Of course I didn’t like you, but I was also pretty freaked out. Yeah so I had a chat with Lincoln about it and he told me I was being homophobic and I was being a bitch so that was the end of that. And look at that, now we get along really well. On with your story.”

“Alright, anyway as soon as my parents heard the name Blake, their brains both went immediately to you and they got pretty ahead of themselves spewing pretty personal stuff about me to Bellamy. So I wanted to prepare you just in case they start doing the same to you. They just have no filter.”

“Well am I allowed to hear some of this pretty personal stuff now? Just so it doesn’t surprise me when I get there?”

“You- you were the one who made me realise I was bisexual. You were the first crush I had that wasn’t on a guy.” Octavia lets out a single laugh.

“Well I’m honoured. I’m just gonna take this as a compliment Clarke. What a coincidence though, you fall head over heels for me and then you give up on me and fall head over heels for my brother. You must have a thing for Blakes.”

“O, I just have a thing for hot people. Your gene pool is a force to be reckoned with.”

She smiles smugly: “I am pretty hot, aren’t I?” But it’s a rhetorical question, they both know the answer full well.

 

 


	25. Chapter 25

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> GIRLS WEEKEND!!!

The month of November is a dramatic lull. There are no parties, no get togethers, no birthdays, and nothing to celebrate. The only really exciting thing about November is how Clarke gets to watch a friendship bloom between her two best friends. Once Raven undergoes a short bout of denial, she eventually comes around to the fact that she actually kind of likes Octavia. Then they’re free to become a trio, no longer does Clarke have to juggle her friends or be worried about leaving one out.

Wednesdays and Fridays become their regular lunch days, because those are the days that their schedules line up. They skate through November with no interruptions, but as December comes they’re struck with absolute chaos. Each of them falls into a rut of whenever they’re not in class or studying, they’re out Christmas shopping. They’re forced to downsize from two lunches a week to one, so Octavia suggests something.

“Why don’t we have a girls weekend or something? There’s an indoor water park in Erie that I’ve been looking at, I just need to get away from this Christmas bullshit and I need more time with my girls. Clarke here is my only good way of keeping tabs on Bellamy anymore, he never tells me about himself now, just drawls on about this blonde bitch.” Clarke forces a laugh, then exchanges eyes with Raven. Then two of them send nods of approval to Octavia.

“Then it’s settled! I’ve already got it all booked up so start packing your bags, we’re leaving Friday night!” Because she knew that they wouldn’t turn her down.

 

The girls arrive at Splash Lagoon at 7:00 Friday night, having just enough time to have a good stop by the water park before it closes. They get an onslaught of questioning and judgemental looks, as they seem to be having more fun than the little children. While they may be a 19 year old and two 20 year olds, they tackle the water park like a group of 10 year olds.

Clarke has a hard time keeping her eyes off of Octavia in her swimsuit. While Clarke is confident that she has absolutely no romantic or sexual feelings for her, she’s still hard not to look at. As long as she reassures herself that aesthetic attraction is a thing (which it most definitely is) she manages to keep her head on straight.

While Raven’s in the bathroom, Octavia and Clarke round a corner after getting off a slide. The both of them notice simultaneously five pairs of eyes give them a once over. To make things even worse, the cluster gets up and trails after them. The girls walk around for a while, trying to get the guys to stop following them, but they’re relentless. Clarke feels Octavia shrinking smaller and smaller as she walks beside her. Clarke’s had enough, and she snaps around to face them.

“Can you please stop fucking following us?” She immediately regrets swearing because there are still kids around.

“Why should we?” One of the guys asks. None of them make any eye contact, each of them fixated on Clarke’s breasts. She starts to wish there was an intimidating stance that didn’t require the shoulders-back-chest-out posture.

“Because you’re making us really uncomfortable and we’re not interested.” Clarke replies, folding her arms across her chest.

The guys whisper amongst each other, and then one of them says audibly enough for the girls to hear: “I bet they’re gay.”

Octavia leaps at the opportunity and interlaces her fingers with Clarke’s, “As a matter of fact we are!” Clarke’s stomach lurches and she looks wide eyed at her friend.

“Oh yeah? If you’re so gay, why don’t you prove it? Kiss her!” There’s a chorus of approving sounds, and multiple exchanges of high fives.

Clarke’s head starts to spin. While this situation is something that year one Clarke would’ve lavished in, for current Clarke it’s possibly the worst thing that could happen. Clarke continues to hesitate, but Octavia doesn’t. Her lips are immediately warm and soft, while Clarke’s stay stiff for a few seconds. Knowing that it has to be believable or the guys will never leave, Clarke closes her eyes and melts into the kiss. Wondering how long Octavia will keep it going for, Clarke ghosts her hands over Octavia’s hips. The hooting and hollering of the group of guys is enough to break them apart.

“Will you leave us the fuck alone now?” Octavia asks, seemingly having absorbed Clarke’s confidence through her lips.

“Actually, that was kind of hot. I think we’ll stick around.”

“Hey!” Raven calls from behind them, “Is there a problem here?”

“No sweetie, no problem, just having a nice chat with your hot friends.” Clarke and Octavia both send eyes that beg for help. Clarke would handle it herself but her hands are still shaking and her heart is still fluttering.

“Well I’m gonna need you asshats to back the fuck off. These girls have expressed that they don’t want you here, and at this point you’re just harassing them. I’m gonna need you guys to turn your pasty asses around and go home and apologise to your mothers for the way that you treat women. How do you think your mother would feel if she knew you were out here disrespecting these ladies? Didn’t she teach you guys to be polite? Now get out of my face before I wreck you.” And the pent up rage that she releases makes her seem so much larger and more intimidating than Clarke ever thought she could be.

Without a peep, each of the boys turn themselves 180 degrees and walk briskly in the opposite direction. Octavia and Clarke strangle Raven in the tightest hugs they can muster, then high five, then hug again.

 

“So what’s the deal Clarke?” Raven starts once they get back to their room, “I’ve never known you to back down from a confrontation with some fuckboys.” Clarke and Raven are sitting on opposite beds, and Octavia is changing in the washroom.

“Yeah I was a little stunned to say the least.”

“Elaborate?”

Clarke gives Raven a detailed description of all the goings on. Raven’s mouth is completely agape by the end of it.

“How do you feel? Are you okay?”

“Honestly, I was so nervous, but I feel absolutely nothing. Like I was so fucking scared that I was gonna fall for her again Raven, so fucking scared. But I feel absolutely nothing.”

“And what’s Bell gonna think when you tell him you kissed his sister?”

“First off,” Octavia starts, storming through the room and hopping on the bed beside Clarke, “I kissed her. Secondly, Bell will like the story a lot more coming from me so I’ll tell him.”

“Or we could just not tell him?” Clarke suggests.

“He’s gonna find out one way or another Clarke, might as well just be frank with him. I heard every last bit of that conversation so if what you said is true we shouldn’t have a problem. I think he’ll be nervous for like 0.5 seconds then he’ll just find it funny. You two are solid as fuck, you have nothing to be worried about.”

“I really fucking hope you’re right O.”

“He loves you to bits Clarke. I’ll tell him that it was all me and neither of us felt anything. I am 100% sure that this will not stir any shit. We were just defending ourselves against a herd of fuckboys and he will respect that. In fact it might actually be a relief to him because we kissed and you felt nothing. If he was worried about you still being into me he doesn’t have to be anymore. All is well Clarke, don’t you worry your little head about it.”

Finally feeling relaxed enough to let it go, Clarke sways the subject: “So how are you guys doing with your Christmas shopping?”

“I’ve got mostly everyone covered, just need one more small thing for Bell and something to send my dad. Yes I have you two covered and no I will not give any details as to what I got you. But I promise you’ll love them.”

“I still need to get some stuff for Jasper and Monty, got the rest of everything done.” Raven says.

“Fuck that, I have my parents covered and nothing else. I’ve been out for hours and just never stumbled across something that shouts at me.”

“Hun, it’s already the 11th, you’d better get your shop on or some people are going to be very disappointed.” Octavia scolds.

“Why don’t we take you out tomorrow and give you a hand. Who do you still need gifts for?”

“Jasper, Monty, Wick, Bellamy, and you two. I think that’s it.”

“Well we’ll hit up the mall tomorrow, see if we can’t cover the guys.”

 

They’re to the mall by 11:30 and hit up the food court for lunch. For most of the afternoon they browse store after store, but they manage to cover each of Jasper, Monty, and Wick. On their way out of the mall Octavia brings up Orange Is The New Black and they all get really heated chatting about it. Clarke is standing closest to the center aisle, and is paying no attention to what is going on around her. She is completely focused on drilling into Octavia that Piper is the least interesting and most annoying character on the show.

Clarke bumps shoulders with a couple people as they walk, but never does she take her eyes off of Octavia as she lectures her about the show. Octavia tries to speak up about something in the middle of a long rant, but Clarke silences her and scolds her for interrupting. Mid-accusation, Clarke topples backwards into the massive fountain in the middle of the hall, managing to drop her bags and her purse before becoming completely soaked.

She stands up in the fountain and shakes her arms in a failed attempt to dry them a little. Octavia and Raven’s uncontrollable giggles are met with a harsh glare.

“What? I tried to warn you hun. This is no one’s fault but your own.”

“Well I’m gonna go hide out in the washroom while you two get me some new fucking clothes. Or at least a towel. Fuck this man. Who the fuck puts a fountain in the middle of the fucking hallway?”

“New plan. You dry off in the washroom while Raven and I here go track down the security tape. How does that sound?”

“Octavia, I’m not joking around. Go get me something to fucking dry off with or I will drag you in here with me.”

Raven sends Clarke a look that Octavia pretends not to see. When Raven goes to push Octavia into the fountain, Octavia grabs onto Raven’s arms and pulls her in behind her.

“Hey fuck you Octavia!” Raven says.

“You’re the one who was gonna push me in here!” Octavia splashes water up into Raven’s face as she says it. The two quickly get into a splashing fight, and Clarke quickly shakes off her grumpiness and joins them.

It takes a security guard five minutes to get to them, by whichpoint not only are they drenched through their clothes, but the floor surrounding the fountain is a massive puddle. They’re escorted completely out of the mall, so they’re forced to get into the car and get it soaking wet. If they were to stay outside in the cold they would probably get sick, so the damp seats is a price they’re reluctantly willing to pay.

The rest of the weekend is passed with one more trip to the waterpark that night, and another in the morning. Other time is filled with gossip and chat about relationships and Christmas plans and school. They’re back to their own houses on Sunday night, and Clarke snuggles up next to Bellamy who’s watching TV on the couch. He wraps his arm around her and pulls her closer, pressing a kiss to her head.

“So did you girls have a good time?”

“Yeah, we had an amazing time. Attacked that waterpark like a herd of fifth graders.”

“Glad to hear it Princess. Though I hear the most fun you had in the water was in the middle of a mall?”

“Well I wouldn’t say that’s the most fun we had, but it’s gonna be something we’re gonna laugh about for years. Almost froze to death when the security guard kicked us out though. I think the car seats are still a little damp.” Bellamy’s laughs come with the first few words of his next sentence.

“I also heard you got a little up close and personal with my little sister.” The statement catches Clarke a bit off guard.

“She told you already?”

“Called me on the phone last night. I heard her side of the story, now I want to hear yours. I’m not mad, I’m just curious.”

She explains the situation in detail leading up to the kiss, palms getting sweatier and sweatier as she inches toward the point of question. “So I was really shaking after they said it, I was really uncomfortable and really nervous, but she had no problem just going for it. I was honestly expecting to feel something, I thought things were really gonna go to shit. I thought I was gonna ruin both my relationship with you and my friendship with Octavia because it was gonna push me over some kind of ledge. But it didn’t. In fact it made me even more sure that I literally feel nothing romantic or sexual for your sister anymore.”

“Were you scared that I wasn’t going to understand?”

“Yep, I was pretty petrified. But now that I think about it it was kind of silly. I think I was just pretty rattled by the whole situation and was in a pessimistic worst-case-scenario state of mind. So how many of your past girlfriends kissed your sister?”

“I’m thinking you’re the first. You’ve been a lot of firsts princess, a lot of really weird firsts.”

“Tell me about some of your firsts. Tell me about your first kiss. I’m a sucker for these things.”

Bellamy flicks off the TV and turns to face Clarke.

“I was in seventh grade,” Clarke is already laughing, “Her name was Nicole I think. She was very very pretty and I had a massive crush on her. I asked her to dance with me at the valentine's day dance, which she agreed, and then near the end of the song I leaned in and kissed her mouth and she ran away crying.”

“Yikes, that’s harsh. Mine was in ninth grade. My boyfriend’s name was Justin, and we’d been dating for a few weeks. And you know how ninth graders date, they hang out together at lunch and they hold hands in the hallway, nothing major. Anyway, one day after school my mom saw me holding hands with him on the way down to her car, and when I got in with her she asked me if I’d kissed him yet. I said no, but it got me wondering if I should have by then. So I thought about it like all night, and I planned the exact situation for my first kiss. And then the next day I just panicked and smashed my face onto his first thing I saw him. Neither of us knew how to kiss and it was pretty brutal. I guess everyone’s first kiss is pretty brutal though. What about your first time?”

“Wow, my first time. I was 18 years old and had just graduated high school. My girlfriend was gonna be going away for the summer, and we had both been talking about just getting it done for a while but neither of us really pushed it that one step further. We figured since we weren’t gonna be seeing each other for a few months we’d better just do it. I figured I’d know what I was doing since I used to watch a lot of porn, but I soon figured out that nothing that pornstars do is actually physically possible. So that went down horribly and then we ended up breaking up, probably somehow due to the horrible sex.” Clarke’s giggles amp up through the story to a full bellied laugh by the end. Then she starts up on hers.

“Mine was right after graduation like yours. It wasn’t really exciting or interesting in any way though. I actually didn’t even understand what the hype was, because he got himself off and then rolled over and went to sleep. I thought that was all it was. My first orgasm wasn’t until after I had broken up with that guy. When my next boyfriend asked if I wanted to have sex, I told him that I didn’t really like it that much, and then I explained myself. He knew exactly what to do, and I think I came about three times that night. That first guy was totally taking advantage of me, so I guess both of our first times were shit.”

“Is anyone’s first time good? You’ve gotta get some practice.”

“Well it’s a good thing I’ve had plenty then.” And she climbs over his lap to crash their lips together. She unbuttons her top and slings off her bra while continuing to work her tongue through his mouth.

 

They end up on the bed, both completely spent for energy. They’re stark naked, bedsheets completely strewn about, so the air circulation tickles their bare skin.

“You bought me a Christmas present yet?” She asks.

“Of course I have. I’ve known what I wanted to get you for a long time. I’m assuming you’ve already got mine little miss control freak.”

“Trust me, you’ll love it.” But at this point she’s not even sure he’ll be getting anything.

They begin to doze off, cold because their bodies are uncovered but not cold enough to make it worth getting the blankets off the floor. Just before Clarke falls asleep, Bellamy says something that jars Clarke right awake.

“So who’s the better kisser? Me or Octavia?”

She smacks him in the face with her pillow and turns right back to sleep. He laughs admirably, knowing full well he deserved it.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually did get followed around by two boys in that exact water park one time so that was kind of the inspiration for this.


	26. Chapter 26

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First it's Christmas at home with friends, then Bellamy, Octavia and Clarke head up to Buffalo for Christmas with the Griffins

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Smut near the end

The final weeks leading up to Christmas are a hectic blur of insanity to say the least. Clarke squirms under the constant pressure of finding gifts for the three most important people in her life: Raven, Octavia, and of course; Bellamy.

Clarke does end up getting a gift for Raven in time for their Christmas get together with the guys on Sunday the 20th. When they get to Wick and Raven’s, they exchange pleasantries, catch up, and grab some drinks, but they crack right down to business because they’re all children at heart and not patient enough to wait to open their gifts. Jasper is the first to hand out his presents, then everyone opens theirs in a clockwise order.

Wick opens a Pittsburgh Penguins hat, which he puts on his head excitedly. Raven opens a book and a movie that she’d told Jasper she wanted, which isn’t super exciting but she’s still very thankful. Clarke opens a set of candles, which seems lame but will actually come in handy if her and Bellamy want some mood lighting. Jasper tells Monty not to open his gift in front of the rest of the group, which causes a wave of laughter. And then there’s another wave of laughter when Monty opens the gift anyway and reveals a box of dick-shaped chocolates.

Monty and Wick give out their gifts too, nothing all too exciting or out of the ordinary, then it’s Raven’s turn. Clarke’s gift comes in a massive box, and she’s not quite sure what to make of it. She peels off the wrapping paper of the first layer to reveal a plain cardboard box. She opens the box and there’s another wrapped box inside. She peels through layer after layer of boxes and paper until she finally gets to a box that she thinks too small to possibly contain another. Clarke cautiously opens the final box, then hurls the whole thing across the room at Raven when she sees its contents.

“You don’t like it?” Raven asked, each word coated in shallow giggles.

Clarke gets up and walks across the room to pick up the $50 Starbucks gift card from the floor. She stuffs it in her pocket and says to Raven: “I hate you so much.” but she can’t help but let a smile ooze into her voice.

Raven opens Clarke’s gift addressed to her and Wick, which is two front row tickets to a George Ezra concert in May.

“Clarke, fucking hell Clarke, fuck,” Raven rubs the tickets through her fingers continually, making sure that they’re actually real, “These must have cost a fortune, you didn’t have to do this. Thank you so much.”

Clarke reaches into her purse and takes out another pair of tickets: “Better yet Raven, you get to go with Bellamy and I. And..” She looks over to Jasper and Monty, who begin to peel the paper off their boxes quickly. To no surprise, they each get a ticket too, which brings on a pair of wide mouthed smiles.

“Did somebody say triple date?” Raven squeaks.

 

Clarke meets up with Raven and Octavia on the morning of the 23rd for a more intimate gift exchange. They all decided that they would give the less personal gifts at the group get togethers (the get together with the guys for Raven and Clarke’s house for Octavia) and then exchange the more personal gifts just the three of them.

Raven opens Clarke’s gift first, which is a heart-shaped locket with a picture of the two of them inside of it. Raven scoffs at the sappiness to hide the fact that there are tears pricking her eyes.

“I figured since we won’t be together physically all the time anymore, you’ll need this to remember that I’m with you in spirit.” Clarke fake gags trying to keep the amount of feelings to a minimum. All three of them giggle, but there are sniffles from Clarke and Raven too.

Next, Octavia opens her gift from Raven. It’s a pair of gold star-shaped earrings, which Octavia subs immediately for the studs she has in.

From Octavia, Clarke gets a set of high quality paints. Octavia explains how Clarke has mentioned art countless times, but never has she heard from Clarke or Bellamy of her actually making any artwork. Clarke often forgets just how thoughtful Octavia is, but time after time Octavia proves herself to be incredibly observant and know exactly what Clarke wants.

Next, Raven opens her gift from Octavia. Coincidentally enough, it’s also earrings, but these ones are silver and shaped like leaves.

Clarke’s gift to Octavia is a collection of classic horror films. Octavia is honoured that Clarke remembered their disinterested small talk from the first time they went out for drinks. She also gives her a set of George Ezra tickets, because she figures that Octavia would likefeeling included. She’s thankful to be thought of as part of the group, even if she’s not really familiar with any of his music.

Finally, Raven’s gift for Clarke. Raven has to duck out of the room to get it from her bedroom. When Raven returns with the gift, Clarke has no idea what it could be. It’s a large rectangle, about three feet by six feet. Tentatively, Clarke tears the paper to reveal a completely blank canvas. When Clarke looks more confused than happy, Raven elaborates:

“We tag teamed this. She got you the paints, I got you the canvas. You’re gonna paint yourself a fucking mural and hang it in your house. I know what you can do Clarke, and everyone who visits that place of yours deserves to see it. I hope you like it.” But Clarke doesn’t have to say a word for Raven to know that she loves it. Streams of tears begin to flow down her face, and she opens her arms to bring her two best friends in for a massive hug.

 

Octavia, Bellamy, and Clarke arrive at the Griffin house later that night. The house is absolutely covered with tinsel and holly and santas and fake snow and all other things Christmas. The tree is up in the living room and it’s massive. It’s about 10 feet tall, and is covered evenly with red and silver ornaments.

“So this is what it’s like in a rich person’s house eh?” Clarke overhears Octavia whisper to Bellamy.

“Mom! Dad!” Clarke yells, “We’re here!”

Immediately the Griffins race down the stairs. Abby and Jake take their turns hugging Clarke, then Bellamy, and then they introduce themselves to Octavia.

“You have a lovely home Mr and Mrs Griffin. Thank you for having me.”

“Oh the pleasure is ours Octavia. The more the merrier! We’ll try our best to make you feel like part of the family, and hopefully you will be one day.” Abby winks to Bellamy at the end of it, making Octavia giggle. They finish up with the pleasantries, and then Clarke helps Octavia set up in the guest room and Bellamy in her room.

The five of them watch Elf that night, which Clarke absolutely hates but it was four against one. Clarke cringes and curls up close in Bellamy’s arms when Buddy starts to pour maple syrup on his spaghetti. People eating gross food and second hand embarrassment are two things that Clarke can’t stand, and two things that are ever-present in the movie.

Clarke’s mood is anything but sexy when her and Bellamy are curled up in bed that night. They cuddle and kiss gently until they begin to lull to sleep. As Bellamy is just falling into sleep, Clarke jerks alert suddenly.

“What is it princess?”

“What if my parents find out we live together? I don’t think Octavia knows that my parents don’t know. What if she says it nonchalantly or something.”

“Go tell her then.” Bellamy rolls away, and Clarke lets her paranoia get her out of bed and into the guest room next door. It doesn’t take much to stir Octavia awake, which is surprising considering Bellamy is the complete opposite.

“What the fuck Clarke?”

Octavia groans as Clarke sits down on the side of her bed. She figures she might as well open herself up so Clarke can say what she must and be out of her room.

“So my parents don’t know that Bellamy and I live together, and I’d like for it to stay that way. So can you please try not to give them any hints that we share an apartment? As far as they know I’m renting a house off campus with Raven.”

“Yeah, not to worry girlie, now get the hell out of here so I can sleep.”

 

Red and green confetti pancakes are for breakfast. Clarke’s parents really don’t hold back when it comes to Christmas festiveness. The focus of all of the breakfast conversation is on Octavia.

“So what are you studying Octavia?”

“I’m doing mathy stuff right now, I’m a major right brain. I’m really passionate about law but I can’t afford law school.” Clarke knows what’s coming. Her parents can’t resist the words ‘can’t afford’.

“Oh we’ll pay for it Octavia. I don’t think it’s right for a young prospect like you to be denied her dreams just because of a silly financial situation.”

“Don’t be silly Mrs Griffin, I can’t take your money. My boyfriend Lincoln has offered too but I just have a huge problem with accepting other people’s money. Thank you so much for the offer though, it means a lot.”

“Octavia, there is no reason for you to feel bad about taking our money. Think of it as a Christmas gift.”

“Mrs Griffin, I really do appreciate the offer, but I can’t accept $50,000 from you. I won’t be your charity case, there are people out there who need it much more than I do.”

“Hey how about we change the subject now!” Bellamy starts, “Anyone got any ideas?”

“You mentioned a boyfriend Octavia, what’s he like?” Abby asks.

“Lincoln, he’s my heart and soul. I love him to the moon and back. He’s a performer and an artist, he’s got a deal with a theatre company that’s making him bigger by the minute. He dreams of being on broadway.”

“Oh yeah? How long have you two been together?”

“Nearly two years now, our anniversary is in February, we just moved in together in the summer.” Abby’s smile goes cold when she hears Octavia mention living together, which makes Clarke very thankful that she didn’t run it by her parents.

“And what about you two?” Jake asks Clarke and Bellamy, “How long have you two been together now?”

“It’s a year at the beginning of March, but it feels like it’s been so much longer, doesn’t it Bell?”

“Yeah, I feel like I’ve known you forever.” He kisses her temple as he hugs her close, and her parents can’t help but warm back up when they see their daughter in love.

After breakfast, Clarke takes Bellamy and Octavia out into the town to see all the Christmas Eve festivities. The biggest celebrations of the area are in Buffalo, but Clarke much prefers staying local. She saw the parades in Buffalo for a few years when she was younger, but it just didn’t feel the same as the quaint and intimate festivities in her little town.

The first thing they go to is the parade. It’s quite a small parade, it takes about 15 minutes to go through and it has about eight floats. There’s a santa with elves, reindeer, a large Christmas tree, a nativity scene, a group of dancers, a stack of wrapped presents, and a team of carolers. Next, they go to the Christmas tree decorating. It costs a dollar an ornament to hang them on a Christmas tree in the middle of downtown. All of the money raised goes to getting presents to impoverished children. Then they have lunch, then they go to the Christmas bake sale.

Walking into the community center, the first thing Clarke hears is a low and drawn out “fuck” from Octavia. It’s definitely not your average bake sale by any stretch. Not just in the gym, but throughout the entire community center there are stands set up with cakes and pies and cookies and brownies and basically any other dessert you can think of, everything homemade. It’s a melody of scents, there’s chocolate and vanilla and fruit, and nuts, all coming together into one luscious scent that causes all of their stomachs to growl.

“So this is where we get desserts for tonight, tomorrow night at Thelonious’, and the next entire year. Pick out anything you like, once we get it home we decide what’s gonna be eaten when. We usually end up spending a couple hundred a year on this bake sale, so don’t hold back.”

Clarke doles out some cash and some reusable bags and they each spread out across the community center. The first thing Clarke buys is a coconut cream pie, then some fudge brownies, then an apple pie, then some chocolate chip cookies, and she eventually ends up with about 30 pounds of sweets. Bellamy and Octavia end up with just the same.

When they get home it’s divide and conquer. For the night’s dessert, they pick out a cherry pie and an apple pie, and a lemon meringue and a boston cream for the next day. They snack on shortbread while they divide the rest of the sweets into four piles; one for Clarke’s parents, one for Clarke and Bellamy, one for Octavia and Lincoln, and a smaller one for Raven and Wick.

After a massive turkey dinner that night, they all dig into the pies. The cherry pie is sugary and tart, and the crust is crispy and flaky and mildly salty. The apple pie is almost savoury. It’s quite aromatic with layers of cinnamon and spice. The crust is thick and buttery, and when consumed a la mode it’s heavy and fatty but in the best way.

Then it’s the tree lighting. All of the Griffin’s and both of the Blakes stand in a cluster in front of the tree downtown. They hug up close like penguins to keep warm, waiting impatiently for the lights to come on.

And then they do. Everything bursts into colour, there’s an ever-moving pattern of red and green blinking and twinkling in the late December darkness. Clarke curls up close in Bellamy’s arms as they marvel at the colours, listening to a continuous rumble of “ooh”s and “aah”s from children and adults alike. And then his attention turns from the tree to her face. He looks at the reflection of the lights in her wide-open eyes, he looks at her white teeth peeking out from her subtly gaping mouth, and he looks at the apples of her cheeks which are round and pink being bitten from the cold.

The kiss is a relief. The warmth starts with the hot breath on their bluing lips, but eventually makes its way to the tips of their fingers and the ends of their toes. They don’t stay kissing for long though, Clarke’s discomfort with PDA as well as the close proximity of her parents serving as a boundaries.

When they get home, they all warm up with hot chocolate, then spread to their corners of the house for an early night. Clarke’s parents say that they don’t want to be tired for Christmas morning, even though they know they won’t be able to sleep very well. Octavia goes to her bedroom to skype Lincoln, which reminds Clarke how grateful she is to have Bellamy by her side on Christmas eve.

Bellamy and Clarke get snuggled up under the covers too. They figure they might as well since everyone else is turning in for the night. They toss and turn and struggle to get comfortable for over an hour, getting more frustrated and restless as the night goes on.

“Hey Clarke.” Bellamy whispers.

“What?”

“I can’t sleep. Wanna have sex?”

“Okay, but we’ve gotta go down to the basement. Can’t be waking anyone up on Christmas Eve.”

They get downstairs, strip out of their totally unsexy pajamas, and sit across from each other on the bed. They’re very lazy about the beginning of it, not calculating their movements but just sucking kisses into wherever feel right. Clarke sucks on Bellamy’s pulse point while running her hand up and down his length.

“Fucking hell.” Clarke mutters.

“What?”

“I forgot to bring a condom down, do you have one?”

“Yeah, in my pajama shorts, left pocket.” Clarke climbs out bed to retrieve it, then returns and slides it onto him. From their crosslegged position on the bed, Clarke moves on top of him so that he’s inside of her. They’re both incredibly tired, so it starts off very slowly. She shifts up and down with her arms and head folded over his shoulder.

It’s not working for Bellamy, so he grabs her by the hips and tries to move her faster. His efforts don’t really work, but she gets the message and starts to speed up. Once they get going the rhythm continues to get faster. Her moans and groans echo and vibrate against his skin, and he slides his face between her breasts and begins to suck. Her head rolls back from the combined sensation of him pulsing inside of her and the hickey that’s forming on her chest.

The focus stays far too long on the area between her breasts, and he begins to sense her impatience. He drags his lips and teeth coarsely up over the mound of her breast and sucks hard on its peak. Her eyes roll back and a moan catches in her throat. His thumbs brush over the front of her neck as he continues to suck her nipple numb.

She shrieks gently when she comes as he bites down on her nipple. Her walls tighten around him and her warmth washes over him, causing him to groan out an orgasm himself.

She climbs off of his lap and lays down on the bed. Instead of joining her though, he plants his face right between her legs. She giggles at first, but immediately goes rigid and silent as his tongue flattens on her clit. He gets her warmed up again with a few darts of the tongue, but then subs it for two fingers that he pumps in and out of her at an impossible pace.

As soon as his thumb is on her clit she’s over again with a strained whimper of his name. He flattens his tongue between her folds and takes a long swipe to taste all of her. She laughs as he makes a disgusting slurping noise.

“That’s disgusting, never do that again. You’ve never done that before I don’t know why you’ve decided to do it now.” She tries to sound serious, but she’s thwarted by her own laughter.

His fingers walk up the center of her body, then positions himself on top of her. She reaches down to get him started back up, but it’s too soon and he’s just not ready yet. Fingers nudge her entrance, but she shakes her head no.

He kisses her sweetly, and she’s welcomed again by her own far-too-familiar taste. She chews on his lip for a few seconds, but then says: “We should go back upstairs. We shouldn’t fall asleep down here.” He groans, but complies. She changes the bedsheet and then accompanies him to her bedroom.

Thankfully they didn’t get caught on their way back up to the bedroom, because neither of them bothered to put their clothes back on. This time when Clarke reaches down for Bellamy’s cock, he’s had enough recovery time and responds positively to her touch. However, he stops her.

“We both know I can’t keep quiet, and my sister is in the room next door. Let’s be done for the night, alright princess?”

She pouts cutely, but nods in agreeance and turns away from him so he can spoon her. They get to sleep without a problem now, both tired enough from fucking each other silly. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really obsessed with George Ezra right now :')


	27. Chapter 27

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day two of Christmas with the Griffins

They’re woken up the next morning by a violent knocking on their door. They twist and separate under the covers and completely cover themselves for when Octavia bursts in.

“Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas! Oh my God are you naked?” After an apologetic look and a nod, Octavia shudders comically and leaves the room.

Everyone congregates in the living room around the Christmas tree. The first things to be opened are the stockings. They’re all full of chocolate bars and candy and other small fiddly items and toys. After even just opening their stockings, Octavia and Bellamy already both feel spoiled by Clarke’s parents.

Then they move on to the actual gifts. Clarke and Bellamy decided that, like what she did with Raven and Octavia, they would exchange smaller less intimate gifts here, and the more personal gifts at home.

Everybody starts by opening the gifts from Jake and Abby. Octavia and Bellamy each get a $50 iTunes gift card, and Clarke gets a collection of CDs with a list of suggested playlists, a collection of movies, and a necklace with a small outline of a heart encrusted with diamonds.

Octavia’s gifts go out, nothing being too interesting. She got Bellamy a hat, and Clarke’s parents a picture frame similar to the one she gave Bellamy and Clarke as a housewarming gift.

Then Clarke’s gifts go out. They’re not really that interesting either. Clarke got her parents a set of gardening tools and a selection of flower seeds. Her parents have always been saying they wanted to start doing their own gardening (as opposed to paying someone to do it), so she thought she’d give them a little nudge to help them get around to it. She got Octavia a set of makeup that is said to complement her hair, skin, and eye colours, and she got Bellamy a few T-shirts of his favourite sports teams.

Then it’s Bellamy’s gifts. For Octavia he got a book entitled “serial killers throughout the ages”, which she hugs as soon as she gets the paper off. As much as it’s kind of disturbing that she’d be so excited about that book, it’s totally an Octavia thing. For Clarke’s parents, Bellamy got a vase, which they not-very-convincingly pretend to appreciate. Bellamy knew it wasn’t going to be that appreciated, because they probably have many vases about 20 times more expensive than the one Bellamy bought. Clarke shakes her gift before opening it, having no idea what it could possibly contain. She peels off the paper and sees the word “Pandemic” across the front of the box in big letters.

“Is this a board game?”

“Yeah, it’s actually a cooperative game, so instead of playing against each other you’d all work as a team toward the same goal. The point is to eradicate disease, so I figured it’d be perfect for my little pre-med.”

Clarke turns the box around and looks at the label. 2-4 players.

“This is awesome, we can go over to Lincoln and Octavia’s or Wick and Raven’s to play this with them. This looks really cool, thanks Bell!”

“Wick and Raven’s?” Her mom asks. Clarke’s stomach immediately drops to the floor, “I thought Raven lived with you?”

“Oh yeah, Raven moved in with Wick. I guess I forgot to tell you that.”

“So are you living alone now?” Clarke thinks for a second.

“Not.. Not exactly.” Wrong answer.

“Who are you living with Clarke?” Her dad asks, but he already knows the answer.

“I, I moved in with Bellamy.” She can practically hear Bellamy gulp.

“What?! When did that happen? When were you planning on telling us?” Octavia and Bellamy are both looking awkwardly around the room. Even as adults, it’s difficult to sit there while someone is being scolded by their parents.

“It happened in August. I wasn’t planning on telling you because I knew this is how you’d react. I’m a grown ass adult. I am nearly 20 years old, as much as you guys will always be my parents, I now have the freedom to make my own decisions.”

“And where are you getting the money to pay for the rent?”

“From my bank account?”

“Yes, but whose money is that in your bank account Clarke?”

“You gave me the money to use. It’s not your money anymore, you gave it to me, and you can’t take it back.”

“Yes, but we can cut you off. If you’re going to use the money we give you to pay for an apartment with your boyfriend, then we will stop giving you money.”

“So be it. I’ll make my own fucking money. I love him. I love him so much. At this point I can’t imagine not living with him. I can’t imagine not waking up with him by my side. I can’t imagine not eating breakfast with him in the morning. I can’t imagine not knowing when we’ll be able to meet up next. I have the ability to look at my front door from the couch every single fucking night and know that he’s going to walk through it. Did you know that since I started living with him I stopped having night terrors? One night in Bellamy’s house ended them. One night of his comfort and care not only eased me for the night, but it fucking cured me. So not only has living with him made me a far happier person, but it’s improved my mental health. So fuck your money, Bellamy is more important to me than anything. I wouldn’t trade him for a trillion of your fucking dollars.”

She feels like she should be crying but her face is bone dry. She grabs her gifts from the living room, her suitcase from upstairs, and Bellamy’s car keys from his coat. She slides into the passenger seat, starts the car, turns on the heater, and silently lets the tears stream down her face. She sits there alone for longer than she expected she would, but eventually someone opens the driver’s door. It’s not who she expected though, it’s Octavia. Clarke doesn’t look over to her, but she can tell she’s ready to leave as well. She assumes Bellamy is collecting the rest of their stuff.

“I want you to marry him.”

Clarke snaps her head in Octavia’s direction, not having expected her to say anything like that at all. If it was supposed to be comforting, she failed.

“You heard me. I think you two should get married. Go ahead and tell me you’ve been dating less than a year. Go ahead and tell me you’re busy with school. Go ahead and tell me you just blew your fortune and you can’t afford it. I won’t take any of it. You two need to be husband and wife. Fucking elope or something for all I care. Marry my fucking brother.”

“Octavia..”

“Clarke. Clarke Griffin. I have never seen someone love someone so much in my whole life,” Tears are spilling out of Octavia’s eyes now too, “The amount of passion you had when you spoke about him sent shivers down my spine. What I wouldn’t give to have a fire like that with Lincoln. And of course Lincoln and I are completely in love, but just the amount of utter confidence and grace in your voice there is something I don’t think I’d ever be able to achieve. You didn’t even crack a tear Clarke. You held your face and you fought for him. And God bless you I know that you’re an angry crier. So that’s why I think you should marry him. Not because you’re a ‘perfect match’ not because I think you’re ‘just right for him’, not because you ‘have my blessing’, but because you love him more than I ever thought possible Clarke. Marry him for God’s sake.”

“Octavia. Neither of us are quite ready to get married yet. Of course I’ve thought about it. But I just don’t think we need to make it legally binding yet. I think we’re right where we need to be in our relationship right now, and if the passion continues the way it is then I bet you we’ll be engaged by the end of 2016. I’m 19 years old Octavia. Marriage just isn’t on my radar yet.”

“I know..” She whispers, “I’m sorry. For some reason I thought you guys would go for it. But I was stupid. Take your time, I should let you guys figure that out for yourselves. Take your time.” They both cascade together, losing themselves completely to their emotions. They fold up in each other’s arms, squared awkwardly against the glove box. It’s a big ball of tears and snot, but neither of them care.

Out of the corner of her swollen eye, Octavia catches Bellamy exiting the front door of the Griffin house. There are thankfully no other Griffins to be seen. Octavia climbs over the glove box into the back seat while Bellamy sticks his and Octavia’s suitcases into the trunk. Wordlessly, Bellamy gets them back on the road.

 

The roads are all completely empty, as one would expect for Christmas day. No one says a peep until they’re about 15 minutes on their way.

“Thank you.” Bellamy whispers. Clarke looks over to see the single tear trailing down Bellamy’s face that she swipes with her thumb.

The rest of the drive is pretty noiseless except for intermittent sniffles. It’s more than a three hours drive, but they don’t stop and no one says a peep. They drop Octavia off at her apartment, wait til she’s safely in the building, then zip over to their own.

As soon as the door is closed his lips are on hers. There’s no desperation though, no desire to start taking clothes off, no getting hot and bothered. It’s a completely pure, completely chaste, but completely driven by the unshakeable love they have for each other.

“Wanna open your present?” She whispers into his mouth.

“Do I ever.” She leads him around the corner into the living room, where he sees a box that’s about five feet tall with a huge bow on it.

“How did you get this in here? How did I not notice it?”

“Raven brought it in here yesterday. She’s a saint. Now open it!” And her excitement makes him excited. He tears the bow off of the box and sticks it on her head. Then he begins to violently destroy the wrapping paper, spraying it every which way across the room. Then there’s the box. Bellamy sprints to the kitchen to get the box cutters and slices it right around the bottom. He lifts the top of the box off, and is immediately speechless.

“Do you like it?”

He still doesn’t make a peep, gaping openly at the piece that sits in front of him. His mouth won’t close and his throat won’t speak, so he’s left standing there like an idiot. Clarke tries again.

“Do you like it?”

He turns to her and wraps his arms around her thighs right under her bum and hoists her into the air. She squeals as he spins her, then he places her down and takes her face into his hands. He kisses her over and over and over, all short but meaningful presses.

“I’ll take that as a yes?” She says once she figures he’s done. He nods vigorously.

They turn together and stare at what stands before them. As soon as Clarke stumbled across it, she knew it was exactly the thing to get for her giant history buff of a boyfriend. In front of them, casted in bronze, is a historically accurate replica of ancient Roman armour.

“So where do you want to put it?” She asks him.

“Why don’t we stick it beside the TV? If you’d rather though we can put it in the bedroom, either way is fine with me.

“Yeah, I think right here is fine,” then she remembers something, “Oh shit!”

“What is it?” Clarke takes out her cellphone and sees 15 missed calls from ‘Perv’. Clarke calls her and Raven picks up on the first ring.

“Where the fuck were you?!”

“Sorry, I’ve had a long day.”

“Alright I don’t care. You know why? I’M ENGAGED! Clarke I’m fucking engaged! Wick fucking proposed! I’m gonna get married! Holy shit Clarke holy shit!” Clarke tries her best to sound like she’s just hearing of this for the first time, but Raven sees right through it.

“You knew this was gonna happen, didn’t you?”

“Wick was gonna propose on Hallowe’en, but I convinced him not to. He decided that he was gonna do it on Christmas, and I guess he went through with it.”

“I wanna show you the ring so bad, but I guess I can’t do that until you get home. I’ll send you a picture then, how about that?”

“Actually Ray, I’m already home.” Without any further questions, Raven hangs up the phone. Clarke explains to Bellamy what happened, and tells him that Raven is coming. Clarke leaves the door open, knowing that Raven is going to be very impatient.

She’s wrapped around Clarke’s neck in five minutes. Wick trails in after her. The back of Raven’s hand is displayed, and shaken, and twisted in front of Clarke’s face. She grabs on to it to keep it still.

“Gosh, it was beautiful when Wick showed me it, but it’s even more beautiful now that it’s on your hand.”

“I know right! I can’t stop looking at it.” Her hand moves from Clarke’s face so she can stare down at it. It has a silver band with one large diamond surrounded by a few small diamonds.

“So have you thought about a date yet?” Bellamy asks.

“I think it will be the summer after I graduate. Don’t want to rush into it and slack on my school work because I’m too busy planning a wedding. It’s not set in stone yet, but I think that’s how long we’ll have to wait.” Raven explains.

“Hey this thing looks really good!” Wick says, marvelling at Bellamy’s armour.

“Doesn’t it? My little princess here knew exactly what to get me!”

“I’m glad you liked it, because I had to drag the fucking thing out of my apartment and up into yours. That thing was an absolute bitch to get into the bed of my truck.” Clarke looks over to Wick and gives him a nod of thanks.

“Wait but why are you guys home so early? Weren’t you supposed to stay until the 28th?”

Clarke explains in full and crippling detail all the goings on of their brutal Christmas morning. By the end of it Raven looks completely mortified.

“They cut you off? That’s insane!”

“I’m not worried about it. I still have like $600,000 in there, which is more than enough to get me by until I graduate and can land an actual doctor job. I think they overestimate how much I spend. I’m pretty sure I’ll only need $300,000 for school, so I can just shove all that aside into a separate account and keep the other $300,000 as spending money. If times get tough I can get a job, but I think I’m pretty well on my feet.”

Raven scoffs and mutters: “Rich people.”

Wick and Raven stay and hang out for a little while, but they eventually have to go over to Wick’s mom’s house for dinner.

“You ready to see what I got you?”

“Am I ever!”

He goes to the bedroom and retrieves for her a small rectangular box. Knowing it might be fragile, she’s very gentle when she opens it. Inside is a short thin golden chain with a gold piece that looks like it’s something written. After a closer look, she can determine that it says ‘Princess’.

“Awh, Bellamy,” She smiles sweetly and wraps her arms around his neck, pressing a kiss to his cheek.

“That’s not everything, here.” He offers her something that even through the wrapping paper she can tell is a jar. She peels off the wrapping paper and sees that the jar is labeled ‘I love you 365’. It’s full of tiny strips of paper.

“What is this?”

“There are 365 pieces of paper in there. Every day you take one of them out and you read it. Do it now.”

She takes out a slip of pink paper, and on it it says ‘Love is a condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own- Robert A Heinlein’ She reads it out loud to him.

“Yeah, so it’s full of stuff like that. There are quotes, song recommendations, just straight up compliments, things that make me think of you. This took me forever to make, so I hope you like it.” The tears that were welling up in Clarke’s eyes spillover and leave dark polka dots on her shirt. Her lips latch onto his and she doesn’t falter. She stands there running her hands through his curly, unkempt hair and lavishing in the taste of his warm and chapped lips.

“I love you.” She whispers.

 

She wakes up screaming that night. He groggily rubs his eyes, taking his time, before he realises what’s happening. Her eyes are empty as he looks into them, he whispers reassurances to her and hugs her in, continuing to maintain eye contact. It takes her a while to snap out of it, but when she does she’s wide awake.

She crumbles. In his lap she becomes a ball and she sobs. Patterns from Bellamy’s finger work their way across her back, but it does nothing to calm her. Eventually he forcibly sits her up and looks into her swollen and bloodshot eyes.

“What is it Princess? Why are you so upset?”

“I know what happened in my dream.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One of my readers commented on the last chapter saying that Christmas was going better than they expected. Little did they know that this was what I had planned all along :')


	28. Chapter 28

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A lot of stuff happens in this chapter. Clarke talks to Bellamy about her dream, and there's a New Years party, and just some general plot progression that I can't reveal without spoiling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As seen by the summary, this chapter isn't all that cohesive. It's a bunch of little chapters all in one basically.

"What do you mean Princess?”

“Remember how I could never figure out what was happening in my dreams?” By this point she’s sobbing between nearly every word, and she’s coated in a thin layer of sweat. The only part of Clarke and Bellamy that’s touching is their hands, which he’s rubbing with his thumb, “Well that dream was much clearer. I think I know what happened.”

“Do you want to tell me about it?”

“I guess..” She pauses and runs the tip of her shaking finger over Bellamy’s knee while she thinks of where to start. She rolls her eyes back into her head as if that will help her see the picture clearer, “So I see my mom talking to Thelonious outside of a hospital room. Wells is inside the room hooked up to some weird machinery, and my mom is explaining something to Thelonious. She says ‘There is a possible treatment, but you can’t afford it.’ Fast forward to Wells begging his dad to pull the plug, and when he won’t do it my mom swoops in and does it instead.”

“Is that everything?”

“That’s all I can remember, yeah.”

“And why is that so troubling to you?” He knows why, but he thinks talking it out with her might be helpful.

“Well money isn’t an issue in my house as you know full well. And the Jahas are like family to us. I don’t know why my mom wouldn’t give the money to Thelonious in order to pay for Wells’ treatment. And Wells didn’t even know about it, I didn’t even know about it. I would’ve payed for it out of pocket. How I look at that is my mom basically killed Wells twice; once when she refused to pay for the treatment, and once when she swooped in to pull the plug without permission from Wells or Thelonious.”

“But Clarke, it’s just a dream, it isn’t real. You can’t let it do this to you. None of this really happened, it’s all just a figment of your imagination.”

“But Bellamy,” She whines, “It felt so real. It felt like I was there in the conversation with them. Like I was seeing a situation that happened but I wasn’t a part of. Like I was just standing off to the side and passively watching.”

“Clarke, you know that’s not possible. I think right now you’re just angry and distressed, which is making you susceptible to the night terrors, and your anger with your mom is making you want to blame her for something. Was your mom even involved in Wells’ treatment?”

“Well I know that she’s a neurosurgeon, but I don’t know if she was directly involved in Wells’ treatment or not. It just felt so fucking real Bellamy. And I know this is the same as the dream I was having before, before I was even mad at my mom! That’s got to be why I was screaming. It’s all cleared up for me now because I have a real reason to believe that my mom actually did those things. I was tricking myself into repressing it before because I believed there was no way it could be true, but now it doesn’t come as as much of a surprise.”

“Clarke, it’s just a nightmare, it doesn’t mean anything. If you had a dream that you grew wings and started flying around, would you believe it? You’re upset about losing your friend and you’re angry with your mom. And maybe the anger with your mom IS why the dream is cleared up, but that still doesn’t mean it happened. It’s meaningless, it’s just a product of your imagination from distress.” She melts back into his lap, and he rubs her back. He lets her get his pajama shorts completely wet with her tears. He knows that he eventually falls asleep, but he’s not confident that Clarke does.

 

Her face and eyes are completely swollen when she wakes up. He kisses her eyelids and her cheeks and her nose and her forehead. She stays stonefaced, not warming up in any way to his comforting.

Grumpy and tired, she trudges to the kitchen and throws on a pot of coffee. Once she has some in her stomach, she starts to talk.

“Sorry about last night,” She murmurs. It’s quiet, so it takes Bellamy a few seconds to comprehend what she said.

“What? Don’t you dare apologize. Never feel ashamed of something you can’t control. You had a night terror, it’s not your fault, just the circumstance.”

“No, I mean I was so stupid to think that it actually meant something. Wells never once visited my mom, my mom does cardiovascular, she doesn’t do neurosurgery. Wells also didn’t die in the hospital, he was in his own bedroom. The dream was messing with my head and I wasn’t thinking straight. At least I have it all figured out now. I have no reason to worry about it anymore.”

“You have no reason to feel stupid. You were distressed, and emotional, and half awake. You weren’t thinking straight, but that isn’t something you could control. But I’m glad to hear that you have it all worked out now Princess.” She notices that he uses the word control a lot, and it’s starting to lose it’s meaning. She does know, however, that he’s trying his best. And it really is helping in the grand scheme of things.

He sets a hot omelette in front of her on the table, and she immediately digs in. As much as her emotional state is now a lot better, she’s still so tired from being restless most of the night.

“Hey Bell, could you get me my jar?” He goes through the living room and grabs the jar he gave her yesterday. She takes out a slip of green paper and reads it off out loud: ‘Henrietta- The Fratellis’.

“Is this a song?”

“You don’t know it?” After Clarke shakes her head, a mischievous grin spreads across Bellamy’s face. He takes out his phone and begins to play the song. While Clarke was expecting a slow and sappy song, this one is quite upbeat. The first time it plays, she listens intently; loving every word and note. Then she asks for him to play it again, and she drags him out into the living room so they have room to dance.

Bellamy laughs as Clarke flails her limbs about; doing no specific dance moves, but just flinging herself around. He can’t help but join her. They play the song a couple more times before the two of them have to sit down. He has no idea where the energy came from, but he doesn’t care. All he cares is that she’s happy.

“I like day two.” She says, scooching nearer to him on the couch.

“I do too.” The words are a flutter against her lips.

 

There are thankfully no night terrors that night. Bellamy assumes that since she saw the dream, she was able to dissect, analyse, and disprove all the things in it that were scaring her.

He chuckles quietly when he wakes up to her warm breath on his neck. She’s completely asleep, but her head is on his chest and he’s facing up toward her. The quick rumble of his chest when he laughs are enough to stir her though, and she crawls on top of him.

“Have you sent in your application for the teacher’s college yet?”

“Haven’t even started writing it.”

“Bellamy! That’s what you’re gonna do all day today then. I’ll go out and grocery shop and everything, you’re staying home and working on this application. We clear?”

“I’ve still got a couple weeks to work on it Clarke.”

“Yeah, but sending it in last minute sure as hell doesn’t look good. Let’s have breakfast and then you can get to work.”

Bellamy whips up some French toast while Clarke looks over the outline for the application process. She figures she’s already put more work into it than he has.

 

Bellamy’s lack of progress throughout the day is astounding to Clarke. It’s incredible how he puts everything off until the last minute, but works so slowly. How does he ever get anything in on time?

Coincidentally, the piece of paper from her jar that day says ‘thanks for keeping my head on straight.’ He scoffs when she places it in front of him, knowing it’s exactly what she’s trying to do. He knows he has to keep trying, or he’ll have lied to her in the jar.

By the end of the day he’s almost halfway done his rough copy, which Clarke decides is enough after taking a good look at his defeated little puppy-dog face. Seeing the orange piece of paper that still lies beside his computer on the table, they both decide that his head has been straightened enough for the day.

He works on it some more the next day, and the day after that. By New Years he has his rough copy done and ready for Clarke to dissect. But first, a party at Octavia and Lincoln’s.

Bellamy and Clarke are amongst the firsts to get there, and not really on purpose. Clarke dragged Bellamy out of the house with an overbearing sense of urgency, for some reason being overwhelmingly anxious that they would be late. Instead, they show up 15 minutes early. Bellamy ridicules Clarke for it, and she knows that she deserves it.

Octavia is immediately grateful when they walk in the door. She employs them to help Lincoln set up the drinks and snacks while she goes and gets ready. It gives Clarke the opportunity to say ‘I told you so’, because it turns out that it was a good thing they got there early.

20 minutes later is when the flow of people really amps up. Clarke is concerned that there’s not going to be room in the apartment to fit all of the guests that Octavia invited. Bodies rub up against each other as they all dance awkwardly to the music, but thankfully nobody really seems to mind.

Raven spends most of the night going up to people she barely knows and showing off her engagement ring. It’s easy to laugh at the looks people give her, they don’t know whether to be congratulatory or just full out ‘Do I even know you?’

Everyone gets drunker and drunker as the night goes on. Clarke starts to worry about Octavia’s neighbours getting angry because of how loud it is, but she really hopes they’ll be excused because it’s New Years.

And because she forgot to knock on wood, there’s a loud banging on the door. Thankfully though, it’s just an angry neighbour demanding that the party be shut down or they’ll call the cops. With that, Octavia reluctantly shooes everyone out of the apartment, knowing that it probably wasn’t a good idea to throw a party in the first place.

Clarke, Bellamy, Raven and Wick stick around though. They figure just the six of them there won’t make much noise. It’s 11:30, by whichpoint the New Years special is playing on the TV. They all sit on the couch taking sips of their drinks, half paying attention to what’s going on onscreen.

“Anybody got any resolutions?” Octavia asks.

“I’m gonna try and jog.” Raven says. The last time Raven tried to jog, it lasted her half a week and she hasn’t done it since. For that reason, the statement elicits a laugh from both Clarke and Wick.

“I’m gonna stop putting things off until the last minute.” Bellamy says. Clarke is rolling her eyes because she knows it will never happen.

“I think I’ll pick painting back up. I don’t know if that’s a resolution but I know I’m gonna do it.” Clarke says. Octavia and Raven smile to themselves, being thankful that this means Clarke will actually put their Christmas gift to good use.

Octavia gets out the champagne once the countdown clock reaches three minutes. Each person is handed a glass that is much more full of champagne than any regular person would drink in one sitting, but no one really notices or cares.

There are ten seconds to twelve, and everyone begins shouting the countdown. Lips latch together when they reach one, everyone lingering just perhaps a second too long. And then the flutes are downed and cabs are caught back to each of their own apartments.

“Ready for your first sex of 2016 princess?” Bellamy stammers as he makes his way through the door.

“Am I ever.”

Their lips come together and he unzips her dress. The kisses are sloppy and taste completely of alcohol; warm and drunk and sweet. He pushes her dress to the floor, along with her panties, and hoists her up onto his hips. Thankfully, in her drunken stupor, Clarke remembers to grab the condom from her bra.

 

They wake up sitting beside each other, leaned against the wall that they fucked on before they fell asleep midway through. Clarke crawls to the bathroom and pukes in the toilet while Bellamy works on prying his eyes open. Sunglasses are donned and coffee is brewed, offering barely any relief. Every time they drink they regret it the next morning.

Clarke had told Bellamy she was going to look over his application, but she didn’t take into consideration just how painfully hungover she’d be when she said it. After breakfast they go back to bed, no amount of coffee being able to keep them awake.

When they wake back up they feel a lot better. Not perfect, but at least exponentially improved. They drink more coffee, then Clarke gets to looking at Bellamy’s application on his laptop. Bellamy putters away on Clarke’s laptop while she does it.

“Clarke. Stop.”

“What is it?”

“I just found an ad on this forum I visit sometimes that there’s a museum that’s looking for more staff for their Ancient Roman exhibit.”

“Are you forreal? Where is it?” Bellamy clicks a few more times before he comes up with an answer.

“Toronto.”

“Like, Canada Toronto?”

“Yeah, it’s called the Royal Ontario Museum. They have a massive Ancient Roman exhibit and they’re looking for people who are well versed in that kind of stuff. I’m well versed in that kind of stuff Clarke.”

“I know you are Bellamy. You visit a forum for crying out loud,” She closes her laptop and looks him in the eyes, “So what are you thinking?”

“Are you serious about this? I thought you’d hear Toronto and shut me down right away. I mean how would we even move to Toronto?  I guess you could enroll in a med school near there, but that would be way more expensive than school here and you’re cut off.”

“Well we can’t move up there until you graduate, so we’ve got plenty of time to work this out. I definitely think you should apply for the position. A history teacher doesn’t even dabble in the Ancient stuff, which is definitely your true passion. You like the wars and stuff that high schoolers learn, but you love Ancient Rome way more. Even if you get it but we can’t find a way to get me over there, you need to take it. We’ll find a way eventually Bellamy, but this is the opportunity of a lifetime for you, and you can’t let me hold you back.”

“But I don’t want to go without you.”

 

Within the next couple weeks Bellamy applies to both the teachers college and the position in the museum. His birthday passes too, which they didn’t really make that big of a deal out of and just went out for dinner. She also got him a big tapestry with a map of the ancient world on it which is totally boring and nerdy but he loved it.

Clarke decides that it’s time to take out the canvas and the paints that Octavia and Raven gave her for Christmas. The days that Bellamy’s at work and Clarke’s at home, she spends painting. She really feels like she should be studying, but she always gets so wrapped up in her painting and loses track of time. Even when she sets alarms to transition between painting time and studying time, she’s so focused that the alarm can’t come close to taking her out of her zone. Even when she tries to study before she paints, she gets antsy knowing that her unfinished work is right across the room.

She always keeps her painting covered so Bellamy can’t see it. She’s a big believer in no peeking until the work is done. When he comes to warm up to her while she’s painting, she pushes him away.

Clarke now remembers why she gave up art in first year of university. She gets so sucked into it, so entranced, that she puts everything off. The introversion really isn’t good for her mental health.

Weeks go by, and her grades begin to falter slightly. It gets her anxiety boiling, but no matter how much she worries and how hard she tries to get back on track, she can’t stop painting until her work is finished.

Bellamy makes her go to the Starbucks after her lectures so he can keep an eye on her. He figures that since her painting is nowhere in sight, she’ll be able to keep her focus on her notes and her papers. Instead, he finds her doodling. She plots out and brainstorms ways of making her canvas better, even when she knows full well it’s not her number one priority.

When Clarke starts failing tests, missing due dates, skipping lectures, he knows it’s time to pull out the big guns.


	29. Chapter 29

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bellamy, Octavia, and Raven help Clarke to make a big decision

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Smut right around the middle

“Hi Mrs. Griffin. Yes, this is Bellamy. Well actually yes, Clarke is what I’m calling you about,” Bellamy isn’t secretive about making the call at all, in fact Clarke is in the room when he does it, but she’s too entranced her her painting to realise what’s happening, “I know we didn’t leave off on a good note, but I really need your help. For Christmas, Raven and Octavia bought Clarke a canvas and paints. Since then, Clarke hasn’t been able to turn away from them. She’s missing due dates, failing tests, skipping lectures, and I don’t know how to fix it. I’ve tried everything in my arsenal but she isn’t responding to anything.”

“How’s she acting? Is she healthy?”

“Well actually she’s really not okay. Her mental health is down spiraling. I’ve watched her paint on many an occasion with tears streaming down her face. I really think there’s a part of her that wants to do well in school. I think she really wants to get through this, but there’s another part of her that is so passionate about her art that it’s the first priority in her mind. I’m sure everything else seems so dull and mundane beside the new reality she’s created in her painting. I’ve watched her try to study, but she’s fidgety and antsy, and it doesn’t last long. I’ve tried to talk to her about it but it’s just no use.”

“She has a big problem with finishing what she starts. I’m imagining this is a huge canvas, so she’s probably constantly thinking about how it’s just sitting in her room unfinished. I’m sure it will pass once she finishes this piece, how long has she been going on it?”

“About a month.”

“Then I’m sure she’s almost finished. Once she’s done with it, I’m gonna need you to tell her not to start another painting, at least not until the school year is over. If her grades have already dropped a lot, she may have already broken her path. I think if she gets back on the right road soon though, she can recover.”

“Thank you so much Mrs. Griffin.” Bellamy hangs up the phone, sets it beside him on the bed, and lets out a harsh sigh. Clarke, whose back was to Bellamy, turns 180 degrees so that he can see her soaked and reddened face.

“I need help Bellamy.” She whimpers.

“Come here princess.” She sets herself down beside him on the bed and rolls herself up into him. He soothes her by rubbing his hand up and down her side.

“I want to stop Bellamy. I want to study and I want to write papers and I wasn’t to go to lectures. My willpower is nothing. I have anxiety when I’m not studying and I have anxiety when I’m not painting. I try to study but it’s so mundane. I know it will help my future but in the heat of the moment it doesn’t feel worth it. But otherwise my mental health is fine I guess. My anxiety is getting bad about balancing studying and painting, but I still talk to my friends. We still go on dates, I still go out to lunch with Raven and Octavia. Because I enjoy that stuff. I have fun when I’m doing that, and I love to paint. Studying though, is suffering.”

“Have you ever felt this opposed to studying before? You used to study all the time last year.”

“I used to enjoy studying Bellamy. I used to love filling my brain with useless shit, because the marks it gave me back just made me feel so good inside. But now, I feel like I get more satisfaction from painting a perfectly veined, bruised white flower petal than I ever would from getting 98% on a term paper.”

“So are you trying to say that your passion for painting is replacing your passion for science?”

“Hearing you put it like that just sounds right. I think I was always more passionate about painting, I just forgot about it because my mom pushed me in the opposite direction. She wanted me to grow up and be a successful doctor just like her. She told me that artists don’t make money, and that if I chose to go into med school I’d be more happy with myself in the long-run. I’ve been following her dreams all along, not mine.”

“Clarke, what are you saying?”

“I think I want to drop out of med school.”

 

She doesn’t make the jump right away, because she wants to make sure that she knows exactly what she’s doing. It does put her mind more at ease though. Bliss comes back into her painting, when before she was overcome with stress. It’s easy for her to relax as she watches canopies sprawl across the page. The sparkle of dew drops graces her violet stained tiger lily with the utmost finesse. Blackened bark cracks and peels off trees to show a recent lightning strike. Energy and vitality is everpresent in the flowing and babbling of a brook spattered with opalescent green rocks. Her renewed and reinvigorated spirit is visible in every corner, shadow, nook, and crevice of her painting. And it doesn’t take long to lock her in.

Saturday, February 6th, Clarke squeezes under the table into Bellamy’s lap over breakfast. She takes a sip of his orange juice, a bit of his toast, then announces herself.

“My mind is set.”

“You’re sure?”

“100%”

“Are you gonna make the call now?”

“Should I?”

“I’m right here with you if you’re ready.”

Clarke picks up the phone and dials hesitantly. Her fingers shake slightly, which makes her wonder if she’s really ready. She presses the hang up button before she’s finished dialing.

“What is it Princess?”

“I want a second opinion. I want to talk to Raven and Octavia before I make it final.”

“Clarke, you’ve completely stopped doing your courses. I’m sure you’re even failing a couple of them. I don’t think you can recover enough to get into full on med school, so I don’t think you need to prolong this.”

“Bellamy, this is my future and my choice. You may very well be right, but I’m going to make sure I’m 100% certain before I make the decision that could shape my life forever.”

“Fair enough Princess. Take your time. You gonna meet up with the girls at the Starbucks today?”

“Yeah, I’ll talk to them then. In the meantime..” Clarke shifts around on Bellamy’s lap so she’s straddling him and begins to nibble on his neck. He slides his palms down her back and into the loose waistband of her sleep shorts and toys her with pinches and squeezes.

The nibbles on his neck turns into a full on bite which catches him off-guard. She flattens her tongue on the spot and wraps her lips around it to grind in a good, hard suck. He moans while she forces her face hard into his neck. He feels her nose and chin press deeply into his skin, but the obvious sensation that catches all of his attention is the blood rising to the surface right beside his pulse point.

He drags her away from his neck and pops her up on the table. He tears her shorts down and begins to nibble on the skin in her inner thigh. She squirms and moans while he does exactly what she did to his neck to her leg. Every so often he peers over at her panties, but it takes a while for them to be wet enough for his liking.

Once both thighs are adequately bruised, and her underwear are adequately soaked, he drags them down and plants his face in her folds. He swipes with his tongue first, and lingers his tongue on her clit. He flicks it a few times, sending quick jolts across her body. Then he flattens his tongue and presses down, wrapping his tongue around the nub like she did to his neck just earlier. His tongue swishes around the bulge without touching it, teasing her mercilessly. He doesn’t touch it again before he’s gone.

He plunges his fingers into her and opens her up. His tongue darts in and out of her a few times before launching deep in. He scours her walls with her tongue, twisting it quickly to cover the surface area. A quick, gentle strike of his thumb to her clit gets her moaning his name. Knowing he may not be able to finish the job with just his tongue, he subs it for three fingers to get her off.

His hand grabs around her hip bone to hold her still while he thrusts his hand in and out of her. Even with him stabilizing her, she still shifts back and forward on the table with every pump. She arches her back and clings to the table for dear life as she finally comes. Her satisfaction is well heard as she messies the table that they were eating breakfast on just moments before.

Slowly, she pushes herself up to a seated position. Her eyes are wide as she stares at him, her irises a sliver around her enlarged pupils.

“You never cease to amaze me Bellamy Blake. I was just planning on giving you a hand job, but that was sure a lot better for me.”

“I’ll still take that handjob if you’re offering.”

“I’ve got something different in mind.”

She slinks off the table through the puddle she created, and kneels in front of him on the floor. He knows exactly what’s coming and he’s more excited than a kid in a candy store.

She starts with a hand job though, just to get him going. From below him, her strokes are vertical. Slowly and steadily she works up and down from base to tip and back again. Once he’s fully hard, she traces her fingernail up the veiny underside of his cock.

Keeping to the exact same path, she does the same thing with her tongue. At the base of his cock she pokes him with the tip of her tongue. His impatience is well heard as she takes her time drawing her wet line all the way up to the head.

Taking air in her cheeks at the same time, she surrounds the head with her lips. It tickles when she breathes all the air out around him. Her tongue flattens on his tip and laps back and forth across it. Then, little by little, she takes more and more of him in.

Her tongue is flat on the underside as she slides her mouth down the shaft. She gulps air down her throat to try and create as much pressure as physically possible. She hold her breath for a few seconds while she drags her mouth up and down the length, causing a slight throbbing sensation from the vacuum of her mouth.

When she breathes back in, she can feel the pumping of blood through his cock. She times her ups and downs with the beat of the throbbing, which is something that he’s never felt before.

He grunts as she rakes her teeth up toward his tip, then with one last quick dart down he comes into her mouth. There’s a slight popping noise when she slides her mouth off his end, and she spits in the kitchen sink.

“Now I’ve gotta sanitize this fucking table. How the hell did we keep that glass of orange juice standing up?” He chuckles as he finishes off the glass. She grabs a dish rag and some all purpose cleaner from under the sink to clean up the mess she made.

They clean each other up in the shower then head out to Starbucks. He dons his cute little barista outfit, and she sits in the corner by the window to await the arrival of Raven and Octavia. There’s a few small questions when the others first arrive, but the first thing to launch a real conversation is Clarke saying: “I think I’m gonna drop out of school.”

“What the fuck?” Rave blurts.

“I’m with her. What the hell are you talking about?”

“You guys know that I’ve been painting a lot lately right?” They nod, “Well it’s really gotten in the way of my schoolwork. Like studying has become completely second priority to my painting. It’s resulted in missing due dates, failing tests, skipping lectures, all making me really stressed out. So I sat down and I had a good talk with Bellamy, and talking it out really got me thinking, ‘what if medicine really isn’t my passion’?

I used to paint and draw all the time when I was younger. All through middle school and high school I would always have my pencils or my pastels or my paints out on my desk, ready to be picked up whenever. Going into University, deadlines were stricter, work was harder, I just didn’t have enough time to be constantly doing art. So I basically completely put it away. It really felt like it was my decision, but I just realised that all my life my mom was trying to push me away from art and toward science.

Having picked up these paints and this canvas that you guys gave me for Christmas, I’ve realised what my true passion really is. Never in my life was science or medicine my number one interest, I was always more passionate about art. At this point it seems like it’s going to be one or the other, so I’m going to try to make it work with art.”

“If you’re serious about this Clarke I think you should go for it. There’s no use wasting another umpteen years of your life on this med stuff if there’s something else you’d rather do instead. You definitely shouldn’t throw your life away doing something you’re only kind of excited about. Do something that you want to throw your whole self into headlong. I trust that even if you struggle to make a career out of it, you won’t regret picking the thing you love.” Raven says.

“I agree with her. I know this is cliche, but you’ve only got one life and don’t you dare fucking waste it. If you go through with this med school thing, you’re gonna be 70 years old and you’re gonna be knitting in your rocking chair and thinking ‘how would things be different right now if I had picked up painting instead’”

Clarke feels a little stupid as she blinks the tears out of her eyes. She reaches as best she can across the table and loops her arms over her friends’ shoulders. She takes out her phone, and they watch her as she punches in the numbers for the University.

“Hi, this is Clarke Griffin, I’d like to withdraw from all my courses for this year.”

“Alright Clarke, may I ask why?”

“I’m reconsidering my career path and I need some time off to think about it.”

Clarke spends a few minutes answering some questions so they can verify that it’s not a prank call, so they can verify what courses she’s in, and so they can verify that she’s 100% sure of what she’s doing. She huffs and slumps in her chair once she hangs up the phone.

“I’m free.” And there are toothy smiles all around.

 

By the end of the week Clarke finishes her painting. She scrawls her big round signature into the bottom left corner, and mounts it on the wall behind the couch for Bellamy to see when he gets home from work. While she waits for him to arrive, she stares at it herself.

It’s a jungle landscape. There are trees and flowers and vines and creeks and little animals throughout. It’s mostly green and brown, but there a splashes of bright colour in a few places. There are flamboyant blue and red parrots in some of the branches, orange, purple and white flowers along the canopy floor, and pink and red berries in the tops of some trees. Some of it she has to re-explore. It’s such a big canvas that some of the things she looks at she doesn’t even remember painting.

Her favourite part is the tree in the top right. It’s leaves are incredibly broad, and shaded with at least five different greens, some browns, some greys, and even some blues. The veins of the leaves are prominent and perfectly structured, the networks thin and fingerlike reaching the pointed tip of the leaf. She traces some of them with her finger, feeling the textured paths and remembering what it was like to create them.

She’s still running her hands over each component of the piece when Bellamy returns an hour later. She’s so incredibly focused, as always, that she doesn’t even hear the door open.

“I’m sorry I’m late, I was.. Holy shit! Fuck Clarke! Fuck! I knew it was going to be good but holy shit I could’ve never imagined this good! It looks like a fucking photograph Clarke!” Tears begin to brim her eyes.

“Do you really like it?”

“Are you crazy? How could I not? Fuck Clarke. I think you definitely made the right choice. If you keep banging out pieces like these you’re gonna make a lot of money one day.”

“You think so?”

“I know so.”

He comes up to her and loops his arms around her waist, smashing a big kiss onto her lips. She hums a little against his lips, trying to hold back her tears.

“Can I touch it?” She nods.

He stands up on the couch and goes over it with his fingers, similarly to what Clarke was doing before. However, he’s not refreshing his memory, he’s learning. Each detail that runs under the pads of his fingers is something new. A new technique that he has no idea how she pulled off, the texture of fur that’s so tiny and precise that he didn’t even notice it was there until he felt it, and the ripples in the water from a dew drop that rolled off a tiger lily.

“You never cease to amaze me Clarke Griffin.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look at lil Clarkey following her dreams :3


	30. Chapter 30

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clarke and Bellamy have a nice couple days in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> little bit of sad, not too much for you guys to handle though :p

Bellamy loves watching the look on Clarke’s face as she splurges on art supplies. His birthday gift to her from a week earlier was an $100 card to the local store, but he knows she’ll spend much more than that. Her eyes light up every time she comes across something new, like a set of oil pastels with over 200 different hues, or a kit of 50 different texture brushes.

Because she no longer has to pay for med school, she throws her money into the art store with reckless abandon. She buys enough canvas to completely coat the walls and ceiling of their bedroom.

“And where are you going to put all of this canvas once you’re done with it?” Bellamy asks as Clarke inserts her bank card into the machine for an $8000 order.

“I’m gonna sell it, obviously.”

“And how are you gonna do that?”

“Art crawl in Pittsburgh next month. Not only swarming with potential buyers, but also with talent scouts. The more recognition I get, the more my paintings will go for. Just gotta link up with the right guy and every buyer in the country will know my name.”

The first thing Clarke picks up when she gets home are the pastels and a 2’:1’ canvas. Because it’s a smaller project, she lets him watch her work. She doesn’t let him see her reference though, she wants him to figure out what she’s painting by himself.

She starts with her pencil. The sketch is completely uninterpretable to anyone but Clarke. All it looks like is squiggles and lines and corners to Bellamy. The rough sketch is done in about three minutes, and she picks up a grey pastel.

She shrouds a few sections of scribbles completely with the grey. The lines are a tad darker where her squiggles were, probably to remind her that they’re there. Or for shading, Bellamy really has no idea.

Then she starts with a light blue to cover the middle area of the piece, again, keeping it darker where the lines were. She adds some green to the front and the corners, then gets to shading. Bellamy figures out that the grey bits are rocks as she adds browns and greys and whites to them. The green parts at the front and sides are light shrubbery and small trees. As soon as she begins to shade the blue part in the middle, he knows exactly what she’s drawing.

She handles the pastels like she’s worked with them for years. Even though they’re brand new to her, she knows exactly which ones to grab. Some purples and blues that she grabs are only in her hand for a couple seconds before she switches up. The details she places in the water are almost microscopic, all working together to create a spitting image of the Niagara Falls.

She uncovers the picture she was using as her reference, and Bellamy’s jaw drops. He snags it from her hand and holds it in front of himself beside the picture. His head looks back and forth between the two images, and to him it feels like the world’s hardest game of ‘spot the differences’.

“What time is it Bell?” He slips his phone out of his pocket and unlocks it.

“2:30.”

“Did that seriously only take me 45 minutes? Holy shit! Haven’t done pastels in ages but I just banged out that masterpiece in under an hour. Am I awesome or what?”

“I can’t believe you ever quit doing this Clarke. If you were always this good your mom should’ve been able to see your talent and known you could make money off of it. Did she not even look at your art?”

“Well I think the way she saw it is that being a doctor is surefire. There’s no way to not rake it in. With painting you could hit a block and just completely crumble. I really do think her intentions were good, she just didn’t understand that maybe I’m just not as excited about medicine as I am about art. Octavia and Raven were so right, no one should waste their life doing something they only kind of love. Even if it’s risky people should chase their dreams. I wish my mom taught me that.”

“Well you keep going with that, I’ve gotta get ready for work Princess. Have you ever painted people?”

“Yeah, I had a big phase of drawing and painting women. Always facing away though, I’m not very confident in painting faces. I’ll paint you something while you’re at work, how about that. And I’ll buy some groceries. Make a list for me, cook me something from that cookbook of yours.”

“No, you can’t even see the ingredients list! I’ll just pick up the groceries on my way back.”

“Just make a list and include some random stuff that we should probably have on hand anyway. I won’t know which stuff is from the recipe and which isn’t. You’ve had lectures today and now you have to go to work. You’ve gotta at least let me be the housekeeper, I’m an unemployed dropout for crying out loud!”

“Yeah, an unemployed dropout millionaire. I will continue to get the groceries while you continue to pay 3/4 of the rent.”

“A) I’m not a millionaire anymore, and B) I can afford to pay for this whole place myself so you’d better let me buy the fucking groceries or you’re headed back to that testosterone wasteland that you called home before I swooped in and saved your ass. Capeesh?” He doesn’t know whether to laugh or be completely terrified.

“Are you alright Princess?”

“Yeah, I’m fine, just make me a grocery list and go to work before you’re late.” He nods and shrugs out of the room. It’s then that she lets the tears come to her eyes, and she skype calls Raven praying to God that she’s home.

“Hey Clarke! Oh shit are you okay?”

“Yeah, just having a bit of an existentialism is all.”

“What about?”

“I just can’t help thinking that I may have made the wrong decision. Maybe I should’ve just stuck out med school. My art feels really unproductive right now because I’m not making any money off of it. I’m not studying or working and that scares me.”

“Of course you’re working Clarke. You’re gonna sell all your fucking paintings at the crawl in Pittsburgh next month and you’re gonna make a killing. Sure it just feels like a hobby to you right now, but once you start raking it in you’re gonna be a full time artist with no stops barred! Trust me, just wait it out til the crawl and then it’ll feel like a job.”

“I hope you’re right. Because right now I can’t help feeling just a little useless. I just threw a temper tantrum because I wanted to go get the groceries. Like buying some food is going to make me feel fulfilled.”

“Well go get your fucking groceries then paint your little heart out. Even if painting doesn’t feel that productive to you right now, it’ll feel worse when you go to the crawl and only have five paintings to sell. Get yourself an arsenal of that shit and make back the money you spent to buy those supplies. Get yourself recognized Griffin.”

“Alright, I’m gonna go grab the groceries and then get to painting a pretty lady for Bellamy. Thanks so much for the pep talk, I really needed it.”   

Clarke hangs up the skype call and goes grocery shopping, grabbing Bellamy’s list of the counter before heading out the door. Then she cracks down on her painting.

Clarke can’t decide whether she likes creating her own scene or copying off a picture better. She loves being creative, but she also loves the end comparison of subject to painting. The thing about copying though, is that she can pick out things that she didn’t copy just right. When she creates her own scene, everything is right because she invented it.

Bellamy comes home and she’s still working on the same painting. Painting takes her a lot longer than the pastels, but she loves working with the different mediums. The lady is wearing a pale blue dress and a sunhat with a pink bow. She’s walking down a path by a lake in a park, carrying her shoes in her hand.

“Well who’s this pretty lady?” Bellamy says as he enters the room.

“I’ve named her Daniela. She lives in Spain, she’s 36 years old, and she has three children who she’s getting a calming break from them by visiting this park.”

“No silly, I was talking about this pretty lady.” He swoops in and kisses her cheek, making her blush.

“Got the groceries. Make me dinner. I’m hungry. I should be finished the painting by then and I’ll show you the finished product once we’ve eaten.”

With a nod, Bellamy goes off to the kitchen to start with dinner. Clarke adds the finishing touches to Daniela’s dress, paying fine detail to all of the tiny folds and creases. Just as she’s about to scrawl her signature in the corner, she hears a violent shriek come from the kitchen. She races out of the bedroom and toward Bellamy.

“Bell! Bell are you okay?” She rounds the corner to see him tossing a flaming piece of paper into the sink, “Are you burned? Are you hurt? Is everything okay?” She sees tears tumble down his face quietly as he turns on the sink to douse the flames. Clarke moves closer and she knows exactly why Bellamy is so distraught.

“How is it?” She asks.

“Thankfully it’s just the cover,” He chokes, “None of the pages are burned. But the book is ruined.” She walks in closer to him and wraps him up in her arms.

“It’s okay Bellamy. All of the pages are still there. All the recipes are okay. Did you burn yourself?” He holds out to her his already blistering palm, “Let’s get this under some cold water, okay? The most important thing with burns is to cool them down or the skin will keep cooking.”

He sniffles and cries as he looks at the charred piece of cardboard in the bottom of the sink. Clarke helps him hold his hand under the water and get the whole burn covered, because he’s really not thinking straight. She grabs him some ice from the freezer, and wraps it up to his hand. They sit on the couch in the living room under Clarke’s jungle landscape.

“I think we should order in, how does that sound?” He sniffles and nods, “Alright, I’m gonna go clean up the kitchen, you just sit in here. I’ll order us some pizza.”

 

The pizza is at the house half an hour later. Bellamy doesn’t speak at all, his eyes cast down at his plate and tears still periodically rolling down his face. She knows Bellamy’s feelings about his family are deeply rooted, but she had no idea that anything would hurt him this bad. Of course he’s shed tears in front of her before, but he’s not really much of a crier.

Clarke takes another good look at Bellamy’s hand after dinner, then they turn in for an early night. They lay in bed with their legs intertwined, and Bellamy still hasn’t said a thing.

“Hey Bell, everything is okay. It’s just the cover. All the recipes are still there. If it would make you feel better, you can talk to me a bit about the book. What are some of your favourite memories with it?” He clears his throat and wipes his nose with the back of his hand. His first words are choked and cracked.

“The first thing I remember making from there is lemon curd cupcakes. My grandma let Octavia and I take turns measuring out the ingredients. I think I was probably six or so. I cracked some eggs, measured some sugar, and then it was the flour. I had quite a fascination with flour for some reason. I loved flicking it and seeing the little clouds it made. Anyway, I was wondering what would happen if I just dumped a whole cup of it on little Octavia’s head, so I did it. And Octavia started to cry of course, but my grandma didn’t even seem mad. She just gave Octavia a cup full of flour and told her to throw it at me. Grandma finished off the cupcakes while Octavia and I rolled around in the mess of flour on the floor.”

“That’s so sweet! I’m surprised grandma let you crack the eggs, my mom never let me crack eggs until I was like 10 years old.”

“Why doesn’t that surprise me? Another one I remember is when I was helping her make chicken breasts. I was probably seven or eight. She was working on cutting up the breasts and then I would help her make the sauce. Anyway, I snuck up behind her and stole one of the breasts off the counter and ran it up to my room. I set it on my desk with my action figures and went back downstairs. We got through the whole cooking process without her noticing, but once we were sitting down to eat she asked ‘weren’t there four breasts?’ And I just shrugged and kept eating. I guess she found it in my room later that night, and she sanitized that desk very well.”

“What the fuck? What would be a seven year old’s fascination with raw chicken. Do you have any more?”

“Oh, I have tons of these, but I’ll just tell one more tonight. We helped grandma bake a cake for our dad for his birthday, and it had a very thick coating of delicious buttercream icing. Octavia and I, like any young children would, were taking swipes of the icing with our fingers. Grandma came into the kitchen after they were done with dinner, and she took one good look at the cake and just glared at us. She didn’t scold us or anything, just glared and took the cake out to our dad. Pictures I’ve seen of it, there are finger marks on every single side. We didn’t leave any of it untouched. Thankfully our dad got a good chuckle at it as opposed to being really angry. Not only is that a good memory with the cookbook, that’s also a good memory with my dad, and there aren’t many of those.”

“Those were all lovely stories Bellamy. And I’ll have to try this buttercream icing one day, it sounds terrific. It’s just the cover you lost Bellamy, it could be far worse. You should be thankful that the fire didn’t consume more of it. You’ve still got all those recipes, all those pages of memories. It’s not like it needs to be presentable or anything either. It’s just a cookbook covered in sauces and spills and everything.”

“There was a note from my grandma in the front cover. A handwritten note addressed to Octavia and I. I’ll never be able to read it again, gosh Octavia is going to kill me.” Bellamy starts to get worked up again, and Clarke doesn’t know if she should dig or just leave him to cope with it himself.

“What did the note say Bellamy?”

“It was just nonsense really. It was just her telling us that she loves us, telling us that she hopes we have fun making the recipes from the book, saying she hopes one day we’ll share it with our children. Stuff like that. I’m less concerned about what it said and more about what it meant. My grandma was a lot like my mom. And my dad for that matter. She was basically both our parents. Other than our nanny, she was the person who was around the house the most. When I would read that note it was like I could hear her voice. Gosh I love her and I miss her so much. It’s like she’s really gone now.”

“Oh Bell. Oh that’s brutal,” She holds him tighter, “You can still read the recipes in her voice though. And maybe there’s a copy of the note somewhere. You should ask Octavia if she has it. She might even have a different note from your grandma. I think everything will be alright Bellamy. She’s still with you as long as you have that book. Not even, as long as you have those beautiful memories Bellamy, your grandmother is still with you.”

“Thank you Clarke, thank you so much.” He gets himself a little more comfortable in her arms, and dozes off to sleep. Even in emotional turmoil he falls asleep faster than her

 

She takes another good look at his burned hand when they wake up and she tells him he’s not going to work. The skin is blistered and red and hot, and it’s just going to peel and be uncomfortable and unsanitary at work. Bellamy tells her that today is going to completely honour the cookbook.

For breakfast is apple, cinnamon and brown sugar pancakes. He even makes a caramel sauce to go with them. Clarke feels herself getting fatter with every bite. After breakfast Bellamy watches Clarke start a painting of a woman twirling in a sparkly golden dress.

For lunch they eat potato and broccoli soup, which isn’t nearly as thick and chunky as Clarke thought it would be. It’s very smooth, and very filling, and very delicious.

They watch a movie together after lunch, just a random on they find on Netflix. About 15 minutes in they’re bored out of their minds and she starts blowing him on the couch. They pick a different movie when they’re done, iron man, which is far more interesting.

Bellamy lets Clarke continue on her painting for a while after that while he looks through the recipe book in pursuit of the perfect dish for dinner. He finds it, makes a grocery run, and makes it, all while Clarke continues to paint.

Clarke scrawls her signature in the bottom left corner of the painting and sits in the living room until Bellamy finishes cooking and setting the table. The food’s not even on the table yet, and she’s already salivating just from the smell. In front of her, he sets a chicken breast with red sauce, and rice with vegetables.

“Is this the same recipe from the story last night?”

“Yeah! I thought it would be perfect to make for tonight.”

“Do I have to check the bedroom for raw chicken?”

“No, no, it all made it into the oven today.”

The chicken is juicy and the rice has beautiful layers of acidity and bitterness and sweetness. Clarke cleans off her plate quickly and watches Bellamy’s face as he finishes off his.

Dessert is mini cakes with buttercream icing. Bellamy remembered that Clarke said she wanted to try it, so he whipped some up. Clarke utters a deep, sexual sounding moan as soon as she tastes the icing. Bellamy forgets to eat his own because he’s too busy watching Clarke’s faces and listening to her noises as she eats. She notices that he has yet to take a bite as she’s cleaning the icing off her plate with her fork, and he digs in.

Clarke is ridiculously horny after that, so they have sex again. Then she shows him her finished painting of the girl twirling in the golden dress. They have a quick rinse in the shower, then turn in early because they’re exhausted.

“You’re right Clarke. It really does feel like my grandma’s still here.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I fucking love describing Clarke's paintings. Also food.


	31. Chapter 31

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Happy anniversary Clarke and Bellamy!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> smut warning near the end

Bellamy’s hand is healed enough to go back to work a couple days later. Clarke continues to paint and draw constantly, somehow never getting bored of it. Clarke knows that her and Bellamy’s anniversary is coming up soon and she has no idea what they’re going to do. It comes to late February, and their horrible first date was on March the second.

“You wanna do anything special for our anniversary Bell?” Clarke asks after Bellamy enters the house.

“I haven’t really put that much thought into it. It’s the second, right?”

“Yeah, do you want to do something fun or something fancy?”

“I think maybe we could do a little bit of both. Like maybe have a fun day out together and then go out for a fancy dinner or something. And then come home and fuck.”

“You know what, we don’t even have to spend the full day together. And I don’t mean that in a bad way or anything, but you can go to your lecture, then we can go catch a movie or something, then go to a steakhouse.”

“And then come home and fuck.”

“Do we not have enough sex Bellamy? Do you need more sex? I feel like we probably have more sex than any sane couple out there. I think there have been weeks that we’ve fucked every single day. I think we fucked three times in the same day once. But if you need more sex then I’d be happy to give it to you.” His laughter amps up more and more as she continues to talk.

“See I never really thought about it like that. It just happens when we’re both in the mood. And I guess that we’re both in the mood a lot.”

“So we’ll have steak for dinner, then come home and have sex. What do you want to do in the afternoon?”

“You got skates?”

“Do I have skates?”

“Yeah, do you have them? Cuz I’ve been really wanting to go public skating. Haven’t been since O and I were kids. I think the arena closes around the end of March.”

“I don’t have any but I can get some. I can probably get a pretty cheap pair. Wait do you figure they’ll have rentals?”

“Yeah, they probably have rentals. So it’s settled: skating, steaks, sex, the three S’s”

 

March second almost sneaks up on them. They don’t have anything incredibly special or important planned, so it’s not something they were constantly thinking about. Nevertheless, it’s still exciting when it catches up to them, it’s both of their first relationships that have lasted at least a year.

Bellamy’s done with his lectures and back to the apartment at 3:00. He gets changed, grabs his skates, and takes Clarke out to the rink. They have no problem renting skates for Clarke, and they change out of their shoes and into them on the bench.

Bellamy’s first few strides are awkward, but he quickly gets the hang of it. Clarke, on the other hand, basically tries to walk on the ice. She lifts her feet far too high and is incredibly off balance and unstable. She uses the wall for support, but still really can’t get anywhere.

“Have you never skated before?”

“Not since I was four or five years old. And I was never good at it. I always used one of those ice walker things.”

“Here,” He offers the crook of his elbow for her to put her arm through. For the first little bit he basically skates for the both of them. She leaves her feet on the ice to glide and he pushes. Needless to say they don’t go very fast.

They accelerate when she starts lifting her feet up. She doesn’t really push or take strides, but she alternates lifting her feet. They start to lose control a little, so Bellamy lets go of Clarke for a second.

Knowing it’s not or never, Clarke musters up the courage to push herself across the ice. She takes short little strides, but it’s good enough to keep her moving. They hold hands as he skates backwards in front of her, which she’s very impressed with.

“You really are a pro Bell. You can skate backwards and I’ve been struggling just to skate forwards.”

“Yeah, I never played hockey as a kid because it was too expensive, but O and I did go public skating a lot. That’s how I can do this,” He lets go of Clarke’s hands and attempts to do some sort of spin. Except he executes it horribly and ends up right on his ass.

“Fuck! Oh shit! Fuck!” He notices some eyes from parents with kids so he tries his best to stop swearing. A few more words slip out, but quieter. Clarke basically crawls across the ice to get to him, because she figures it’s probably faster than her skating.

“Are you okay Bell? Can you get up?”

“I probably could get up, but I don’t really want to try yet. Can I just sit here in pain for a few seconds?”

“Yeah, of course, maybe take your weight off your ass or something? Turn onto your side.” She guides him onto his side, which is accompanied by a lot of cringing and wincing.

“Hey, do you guys need a doctor or something?” A random passerby asks them.

“No, it’s okay, I’m a med student, I know what I’m doing,” She pauses, and he starts to skate away, “Actually sir, could you get us some ice?” The man sarcastically looks down at the rink and waves his arm downward in front of him to showcase that the entire ground is made of ice.

“Well he doesn’t want to put all of his weight on his ass. Plus I’m gonna try and get him over to the benches over there. It’s funny how you offer to help and then you’re rude and sarcastic ten seconds later.”

“Sheesh, I was just making a joke. I’ll go get you some ice hun, I’ll be back in a sec.”

“Meet us at the benches over there, I think I’ll be able to move him over there by the time you get back.”

With that, Clarke loops Bellamy’s arm over her shoulder and helps him to his feet. It’s quite awkward and clunky, because she is very bad at skating, and he physically cannot skate with the state that his ass is in. They cut through the middle of the rink to get to the benches.

Clarke gets Bellamy laying down on his stomach on the bench, and the guy is back with their ice not long after. She thanks him, and apologizes for snapping at him earlier. He’s completely friendly and understanding, and he apologizes for being sarcastic to her.

“Did you notice that you told him you’re a med student?” Bellamy asks.

“It’s easier to tell him that than to tell him that I dropped out of med school isn’t it. I still know what I’m doing.”

“Is that so? You’re experienced in the realm of ass injuries?”

“You’re not in a very good spot right now Blake. I could easily slap your ass and make you cry. Ooh that sounds kind of kinky. I might try that one out tonight.”

“Clarke. Please. Do you have any painkillers?”

“Not on me, no, but we can pick some up on the way to dinner. Do you wanna try and get up and get out of here or do you wanna lay down for a few more minutes?” He takes a look at his watch.

“It’s almost 4:30 and we don’t have a reservation. We should probably get out of here before we get a two hour wait time for dinner.” She gets him out of his skates and into his shoes, then does the same for herself. She runs her skates up to the front counter so she doesn’t have to carry them when she helps him out. His arm loops over her shoulders again, and she helps lift him off the bench.

She supports a lot of his weight as he limps out of the rink and to the car. Without question, she climbs into the driver’s seat, even though it’s his vehicle. Neither of them want him to be driving. They stop off at a pharmacy to pick off pain meds, then go to the steakhouse and ask for a table for two. They’re told it will be around a one hour wait.

“Do you need water or can you pop these dry?” Clarke asks, holding out the pill container. He snatches the container from her and pops three pills in his mouth without even consulting the label. Clarke takes a look at it herself, and it says one or two, so she figures he’ll be fine.

It’s easier for him to stand leaned up against the wall than to sit on the bench provided. Clarke stays seated, but they’re still right beside each other so they can still chat.

“I got you something.” He says.

“I got you something too, but it’s at home. I couldn’t bring it here, it’s too big.”

“Well now you’ve got me curious.”

“I’m curious too.”

“Wanna open yours now?” Clarke doesn’t say anything, she just holds her hand out to him. It’s a small box, it’s either a ring or earrings.

She undoes the bow and opens the box. It’s a thin silver band with tiny little diamonds all around it. Her smile is excessively toothy as she slides it onto her right ring finger. She holds her hand out in front of her and twists it around, grinning at it without sign of stopping.

“It’s a promise ring. It means that we’re not quite ready to be married yet, but I intend to marry you at some point in time. Once I’ve got a better job than this shit deal at Starbucks, I’ll buy you a real ring.”

“Well then I really hope you get that job at the museum.” She stands up so she can press a soft kiss to his lips.

“But how will you move with me to Canada if you don’t have a job? They don’t just let anyone into the country you know. You’ve gotta already have a deal.”

“We can elope. If we’re married you can take me with you. We’ll elope to get me into Canada and then we can have the big fancy celebration later. It’ll all work out Bellamy, don’t worry.”

“I really hope you’re right Princess.”

 

20 minutes later their table is ready. Lucky Bellamy gets to sit down. Because his chivalrous and gentlemanly, Bellamy pulls out Clarke’s chair for her, then slowly winces his way into his own.

“Are you gonna be okay Bell?”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine, the painkillers are starting to kick in anyway.” He shifts uncomfortably in his chair as their waiter sneaks up behind them.

“Is everything okay sir? You look to be.. In pain?”

“Yeah, we just went skating before we came here and he fell on his ass like a loser. We’ll each take a glas of water, and can I see the wine menu please?” The waiter hands Clarke a menu from under his arm, “Wait a second, I’m only 20 years old, I keep forgetting. Do you want anything Bell?”

“Not if you can’t have any,” He turns from Clarke to the waiter, “just the waters are fine sir.” He nods and places the menus in front of them.

Everything is very expensive. They look over the options and figure that one meal here costs just as much as two meals at Murphy’s. Once they decide that Clarke is paying, Bellamy feels like he can relax a little more with the expenditures. He’s gotten over his vendetta against Clarke paying for stuff because he’s kind of been forced to. They both get the same thing; 8 oz steak with seasonal veggies and mashed potatoes.

Bellamy continues to squirm in his seat while they wait for the food. Clarke feels so bad for him, but has no idea what she can do to help.

“Want me to see if I can get some ice from the kitchen Bell?” She asks.

“Well I don’t think it would be beneficial for me to sit on it, and I can’t exactly lay down or stand up with ice held to my ass, so I think I’m gonna have to deal with it.”

“Would you be more comfortable in a booth?” Bellamy takes a good look around to see if the booths are more padded than the chairs. The only problem is, there’s no open booths in the restaurant.

“I guess we could wait until one opens up.” Clarke suggests.

“Wait, why don’t we see if that couple there is willing to switch spots with us?” Bellamy points across the dining room to another young couple who is also waiting to get their food.

“I’ll go ask them,” Clarke gets up and walks over to their table. The look over to her confused, “Hi, my boyfriend and I are here celebrating our anniversary, but we went ice skating earlier and he fell and really hurt his bum. He’s very uncomfortable now, but he thinks it would be more comfortable in the booth. Is it too much to ask for you to switch tables with us, we’re at that table right over there.” She turns and points to where Bellamy is still seated, still trying to find the most comfortable position.

“Oh that’s no problem! We’re actually celebrating our anniversary too! It’s been three years and this guy here still hasn’t proposed! Why don’t we see if we can’t flag down a waiter.”

Clarke catches a waiter in passing and explains to them the situation. The waiter comments on how he’s never seen something like this before, but how he doesn’t think it will be a problem. They swap their drinks and move their coats, then effectively switch tables.

“Well that was weird, but this is way better.” Bellamy leans back and relaxes in the much more padded seat. Clarke is just so happy that he’s comfortable.

Their meal comes and they both eat very quickly. The star of the show surprisingly isn’t the steak, but the mashed potatoes. They’re creamy, and garlicky, and have little pieces of potato skin in them which is something the food nerd in Bellamy absolutely loves.

The restaurant goes completely quiet near the end of their meal. They both spin their heads around wondering what the reason could be. There, at their old table, the man is on one knee in front of the woman with an open box. Tears stream down her face as he slides it on to her left hand, and she holds it out in front of her like everyone does when they get a ring.

Bellamy and Clarke split a cheesecake, and then make a stop by the table on their way out. They thank them again for switching tables, and congratulate them on their engagement. Clarke takes a close look at the ring, them commends the guy for picking out such a good one.

On the drive home Clarke takes a good look at her ring again.

“You wishing yours was a bit more like hers?” Bellamy asks.

“No, I don’t think so. I agree with you, we’re not ready to get married yet. Our only income right now is coming from Starbucks, so we’ve gotta hold something down first before we splurge on a wedding.”

“I love you Princess, happy anniversary.” He says, taking her right hand off the steering wheel and placing a kiss on top of her ring.

They get home and Clarke takes her gift for Bellamy out of the closet. He can immediately tell by the way it’s wrapped exactly what it is.

“How did you know Clarke?” Bellamy asks, unwrapping his new guitar.

“What did you mean ‘how did I know’? Your other one looks like shit, I’m surprised it still tunes. Plus I’m not a fan of the black guitar, so for my own vanity reasons I got you a brown one.”

He laughs and starts strumming it a bit. He sits down on the couch but decides he’s more comfortable standing. They play and sing The Scientist, which immediately brings tears to Clarke’s eyes and makes Bellamy sniffle. He sets down the guitar and flits his eyes to the bedroom, raising a questioning eyebrow.

“We don’t have to have sex tonight if your ass is too sore Bell. The last thing I want for you is to be uncomfortable, especially on our anniversary.”

“The last thing I want is to not have sex with you on our anniversary. Just keep your hands away from it and I think it’ll be fine. And I’ll have to top, but I do that anyway so it’ll be just like normal.”

“Alright, whatever you say.” She says, dragging her fingertips across his chest on her way to the bedroom.

He stops her before she can even get through the door. He grabs her by the hips and turns her face by the chin. Their lips meet, and she turns so she can press her whole body to him. He grabs her by the waist and pulls her so their torsos are flush.

She works her fingers into his curls and her tongue into his mouth. He closes his lips around it and sucks hard, refusing to let it escape. They make a little game of it, her squirming and pulling and him keeping his lips tight as possible so he can keep a hold of her tongue. When  she finally pops it out, she moves away from his mouth and down his jawbone.

Clarke doesn’t particularly like placing kisses on Bellamy’s body, but he does it quite a lot to her so she figures he probably wants it too. She slides his shirt over his head and starts to pepper kisses down his clavicle. Her lips fasten around the round end of the bone, and she sucks hard.

He sneaks his hand under her dress while she does it, and he gently tickles her cunt through her panties. She tries her best not to squeak, while she focuses on creating the purplest most swollen hickey she ever has.It’s a difficult spot for the job, but she figures she can do it if she sets her mind to it.

Her panties get damper and damper as he continues to draw circles and figure eights on them. When he finally pushes them down is when her lips disconnect from his collarbone. She bends at the knees so he no longer has access to her entrance, and she begins to teethe at the taut muscles of his abdomen. Considering they eat pancakes nearly every morning, he manages to keep in impeccable shape.

Clarke can’t say the same for herself. She’s managed to collect herself a cute little layer of chub which Bellamy loves to squeeze and play with. He likes the way it feels when he’s gnawing on her inner thigh or sucking on her tummy.

As good as it feels to have his torso nibbled on by Clarke, Bellamy just wants to get in her pants. He lifts her up from under the bum and launches her onto the bed, diving on over top of her. He drags her panties completely off her legs and throws them across the room. Her moans are loud and well heard as he works his fingers deep inside of her.

He watches her breast jiggle out the top of her dress with every forceful thrust into her. He keeps striking her clit with his thumb, and she screams as the forceful current shocks through her body.

She utters a noise that’s half moan half shriek when she comes. Bellamy doesn’t give her a split second to recover, because he’s already latexed up and inside of her.

This time he keeps her breasts from jiggling with his hands. He presses down hard on her chest as he thrusts into her over and over. She whines his name, begging him to go faster, but clenching his muscles to drive hurts his ass.

In attempts to help him get off, she cants her hips up toward him. She knows he’s not going to be able to go hard enough to get her over again, but she can at least give him what he wants. She rolls her hips upward, trying to make a fluid pattern between his movements and hers. She claws into the back of his ribcage to give her enough leverage to jar his hips.

He lays his weight on top of her for the last few strokes, and climaxes with an almost violent yell. He stays on top of her for a while afterward, until she pushes him off because he’s squishing her.

“Happy one year baby.” She says, twisting in bed so she can peck his lips.

“Happy one year Princess.”

 

 


	32. Chapter 32

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The art crawl in Pittsburgh, then some more time at home

The art crawl in Pittsburgh is a week later. Altogether Clarke has accumulated nearly 40 pieces of art, hoping she’ll be able to make back the $8000 dollars she spent on supplies. Bellamy can’t get the time off work, so Clarke convinces Octavia to tag along. She recently quit her job at McDonalds, and Lincoln is away filming something, so she really has nothing better to do.

The people running the crawl wanted Clarke to arrive a day early to set up her booth. She gets a very small section of the sidewalk, so she won’t be able to display all of her paintings at once. Octavia helps her choose the ones which will be displayed first, and the rest of the lineup for when the display paintings sell.

Clarke doesn’t have a particular selling price for her paintings, but she’s hoping she’ll be able to get them out for at least $200. She’s decided she’ll let the buyers make an offer, and then barter with them.

Walking down the street in the morning before the art crawl, she knows it’s not going to be hard to get $200 for her paintings. There are people selling literal splatters on canvas for $500 and more. It will probably benefit her not to have prices out in front of her paintings, because then she knows the won’t sell them for too little.

It makes her start to panic a little though. She wonders if she should be charging a lot more than $200 dollars. She looks up some articles online, and most people say that for a painting the size that she’s made, she could be selling them for over $720. It makes her a little nervous that that’s too much, but people say that if you don’t feel at least a little bad about charging too much, you’re probably charging too little. She also knows she can feel it out and if she’s not getting any action, lower her prices a hundred or two.

The people start to come through at 8:00AM. The first few people that visit her stand browse a little then leave. She obviously doesn’t expect people to just buy her paintings without even looking at other options though.

“How much for that lovely lady in the gold dress up there sweetheart?”” An elderly lady asks. Clarke takes a good look at the painting, then briefly discusses the offer with Octavia.

“$800”

“Oh wonderful! And that tree up there?”

“$760”

“Perfect! I’ll take both of them! A little secret though dear, you probably could’ve charged about $50 more on either of them and I’d still take it. Always charge higher than you want for it and then lower it to what you think it should be if they don’t take it. They’ll think they’re getting a bargain when really it was what you wanted all along.” Clarke thanks the lady, and takes $1560 from her. Octavia gets the paintings down from their hooks and hands them off, then replaces them from behind the stand.

Clarke takes the lady’s advice, and asks for about $50 more than she thinks each painting is worth. More often than not, people just go along with it. Her Niagara falls in oil pastels goes for $550, and her painting of Daniela walking in the park goes for $830. After selling only 12 works, she has made back well over the $8000 she spent.

“Hey Clarkey, if you don’t mind I’m gonna go walk around for a little bit. I’ll bring you back a snack or something though.”

“Oh for sure, don’t worry about it. I think having you here is squandering my sales anyway so I think it’d be best if you go.” Octavia jokingly hits Clarke on the arm and gets started down the crawl.

Clarke makes a couple more sales just after Octavia leaves, but the flow dies down around lunch time so she’s left to sit alone with her thoughts. She starts to wonder if she’ll ever be able to make a living off of painting. Sure she’s made a killing at the art crawl, but how often do crawls come around? She could put them online, or enter auctions, but she doesn’t know if she’ll be able to do enough per year to support her and Bellamy if he doesn’t get the job at the museum.

Octavia returns after 45 minutes with a full box of pizza. They each take out a slice, and eat wordlessly, both too hungry to waste time speaking to each other. Clarke is just starting her second slice when a man approaches her booth. She wipes her mouth with her hand and walks up to him. When he offers his hand, she’s forced to shake with the one she just messed with tomato sauce.

“Hi, I’m Alex Rossini, are you the genius behind these works here?”

“Yes, thank you I’m Clarke Griffin. How may I help you sir?”

“I’m from the Albright-Knox art gallery in Buffalo, and I’m doing a feature on up-and-comers. I’ve been searching this crawl for young artists all day, and I find your work very intriguing. Would you be interested in coming to the gallery the weekend of April 15th-17th to display some of your works?”

“Would I ever! Oh goodness! When should I be there? What should I bring?”

“If you could just leave your phone number with me here today, I’ll call you within the next week to tell you the details. I’ll need about 10 of your works by that weekend, will that be a problem?”

“Oh of course not. Thank you sir, thank you.” She takes his hand and shakes it again, smiling widely as she does so. She gives him her phone number, and continues to thank him profusely.

“Actually, this work here, this beach, how much are you selling it for?”

“$820”

“Oh goodness that’s a ridiculous price, I’ll give you $1200.”

“Sir, that’s so nice, but you’ve already done so much for me today, please take it for $820, that’s really what it’s worth.”

“Nonsense, absolute nonsense.” He quickly fills out a cheque for $1200 and places it on her counter. Octavia goes around the front and helps him get the painting down. Clarke waits until Mr. Rossini has left to squeeze Octavia in her arms, jump up and down, and squeal.

“Do you think they’ll pay you to be there?” Octavia asks.

“I think they will, but I wouldn’t be disappointed if they didn’t. I think the recognition I’ll get there is far more valuable than whatever they could pay me anyway.”

 

Clarke completely sells out before noon the next day. From her rough estimate based on average selling price per work, she figures she made over $30,000 that weekend. She tells Octavia she’ll give her $1000 for being such a good help, which Octavia refuses immediately.

 

“Honey! I’m home!” She cheers as she enters the apartment. Bellamy emerges from the bedroom and wraps her up tight in his arms.

“How’d it go Princess?”

“I only made a fucking killing!” She spills cash and cheques on the floor and dives into them, giggling maniacally and rolling around, “Wanna help me count it?”

After checking it a second time through because they couldn’t believe it the first time, they come to the conclusion that Clarke raked in $35,000 over the weekend.

“Wow, I might as well just quit at the Starbucks now.”

“Yeah, do it, I don’t see why not.”

“Are you serious?”

“I’ve got over $500,000 in my account right now, and I just made another 35, we’ve got more than enough to hold ourselves over until we get something solid. You don’t have to quit it if it makes you uncomfortable to, but I can pay for teachers college if the museum thing doesn’t work out, and if it does work out then you’re making money again and all is well. Plus there’s a pretty good chance that I’m going to get recognised real soon.” She sees his face change when she mentions the museum, and she’s curious what that might mean.

“Recognised how?”

“Oh yeah I guess I should’ve opened with this. A guy came to my stand and asked me to be a part of some up-and-comers exhibit he’s assembling at a gallery in Buffalo. I’m hoping there will be talent scouts there and someone will take me in or get my name around or something. And it’ll probably also get me some more buyers.”

“Well I really want to come with you to that, so I think I’ll quit my job. I don’t have any more days I can take until June, so I should probably just get out of there. I can focus more on school and spend more time with you, how does that sound?”

“It sounds perfect,” She kisses him, but she knows that something’s weighing on his mind based on the way he kisses back, “You got a call didn’t you?”

“Shit, did I really make it that obvious?”

“You definitely did not keep a poker face. But I don’t know if it’s good or bad news.”

“They loved my resume. They said that I’m by far and away the best application, and they don’t even want to bother doing interviews. They said they want me in for a paid two-month internship starting in late May, and if they like me they’ll keep me full time.”

“So why aren’t you more excited?”

“Because how the hell are we going to move to Canada? You need a job in order to immigrate. You can’t just move there for funzies.”

“I told you, if I haven’t found anything by then, we can elope. You’ll do the two month internship, and if you get hired and I still don’t have an opportunity in Canada, you can come down here, we’ll get our marriage licences, and we’ll get married. And don’t worry about me during the internship part. I’ll come to visit you for sure. I’ll come up right when you do to help you settle in, and I’ll come up in July too. It’ll be perfect, the lease here will end just as you’re finishing your internship.”

“I don’t like the idea of living without you, but I guess we’ll have to make do. And I guess there’s no point in staying at Starbucks now.”

 

He gives his two weeks notice at work the next day, but they tell him that they don’t want to keep him. It makes him wonder if they ever really liked him, but he doesn’t care because he’s finally free. He’d been working that Starbucks since first year, so it’s really a relief to finally be free of it. The only sad thing is, that’s where he met Clarke. They can still go there for coffee and stuff, but he won’t be her barista anymore.

Their first day that Bellamy is unemployed, they promise to spend together. Clarke paints while Bellamy’s at his lecture, then he comes straight home, ready to start the rest of their day together.

“What do you have planned for us today my love?” She asks as he wraps his arms around her waist and she wraps her arms behind his neck.

“I was thinking we would play that board game I got you for Christmas, Pandemic.”

“Ah the one you got for your little pre-med. And the one that drove a barrier between me and my parents. I love it. Have you read the rules?”

“Of course I have,” He grabs the game from its place in the living room, and sets it down on the table, “Now come get your cute little ass over here so I can school you at this.”

“Isn’t it a cooperative game?”

“You remembered! So..” He goes on and on explaining all the rules, and by the end of it Clarke is completely blank faced. She’s surprised at how little she managed to retain, considering her entire livelihood as a university student was listening to lectures and remembering the information. Then again she did get to take notes. She decides she’ll just try to learn by playing, seeing as it’s a cooperative game and Bellamy seems to know what he’s doing.

The game starts off pretty well. They do a pretty good job at keeping the diseases from spreading, and even get one of them cured. But then disease starts spreading like wildfire in East Asia, and they can’t do anything to stop it from causing epidemic after epidemic. They lose, and then immediately start back up again. Clarke is quite determined to win, but little does she know that it’s nearly impossible to do so. They do a lot worse the second time around, which just gets Clarke frustrated.

“I don’t know how much I like the feel of this. All those fake people in board game land just died because I’m an inadequate doctor. Like thank god I dropped out right?” Bellamy can tell that Clarke is trying to make light of the fact that she’s actually pretty frustrated.

“Yeah, if you get really into the theme of this then it’s super disappointing when you lose. I think we’ve gotta put this away for today. Should I start making dinner?”

“Did you already pick up the groceries?”

“Yep, did it on my way home from my lecture. You can go do some painting while I make this, I really think you’ll like this one.”

“Is it nice and spicy?”

“Almost as hot as you.” Clarke waves him off with her hand and blushes a little as she slinks back to the bedroom. She picks up her paintbrush and gets back to work on the dancing couple she’s working on. It’s loosely modeled off of Lincoln and Octavia, because she really admires the contrast in their body structures. Lincoln is such a humongous, meaty, muscled guy, and Octavia is small and dainty. Aesthetically, they’re an adorable couple.

She spends a long time on the hair of the Octavia character. Clarke thought she would honour the way Octavia always likes to wear her hair in braids, and it’s proving more difficult than she had hoped.

Eventually the hair is good enough to move on from, and she’s working on the shoes when Bellamy calls her out for dinner.

As soon as she opens the door, she has no idea how she didn’t smell it before. The spices smell very East or South-East Asian, possibly Thai or Vietnamese. She sits down, and he places in front of her a beautiful looking stir fry.

“I didn’t know your grandma made Asian cuisine too! This looks amazing!”

“Well I’m half Filipino, so she had a lot of their food and it made her want to explore other cuisines too. She was very worldly for an old lady. I think there’s some indian stuff in there too, some Ukrainian pierogies, a lot of Italian, there’s so much in there you haven’t seen yet.”

“Well I’m excited to try all of it, but first, this.”

“It’s a thai coconut curry. Coconut milk, chicken, rice, peppers, zucchini, carrot, potato, and a boatload of spices. I’m gonna tell you I didn’t hold back on the heat like grandma used to do when she made this for Octavia and I, but it probably won’t even bother you anyway.” Clarke takes a quick bite of a piece of green pepper.

“Oh man you weren’t lying.” She sticks out her tongue and begins to fan it, then winks at him because they both know if this is her reaction he won’t be able to take it.

His first bite he’s pleasantly surprised. He was expecting it to be worse. Clarke continues to eat it as if it’s nothing out of the ordinary, and Bellamy takes each bite with caution. By the end of her bowl, Clarke’s nose is running a little and her eyes are a little red and watery. By the end of Bellamy’s bowl, he’s sweating from every pore, there are tears streaming down his face, he’s panting, and he has his tongue inside a glass of milk.

“I was looking at the calendar earlier today, and the weekend that the thing at the gallery is is the same weekend that Wells’ birthday is. You figure we’d be able to go visit him? The cemetery is about and hour away from the museum.”

“Oh of course Clarke, that won’t be a problem. Maybe we can swing by and visit your parents too.”

“Oh hell no! What’s wrong with you?”

“You don’t want to patch things up?”

“I don’t think I can at this point. Looking back Bell, she was really trying to control my life. I asked her not to tell people things about me and she told them anyway. I told her what I wanted to do and she threatened me so I would do something different. She was supportive of me as long as I was doing what she wanted me to do. And at this point she fails to recognize that I’m a grown adult who can make the decision to live with who I want to live with. If I were to tell her that I’ve quit med school to be a full time artist, she wouldn’t care if I’m making money. She wants me to be a doctor just like her. She wants to control me, she wants to be in charge of me, but I’m an adult now and she isn’t the boss of me any longer.”

“Clarke, I lost my mom when I was really young. I would give anything to be able to talk to her, to have a relationship with her. It hurts my heart that you can have a relationship with your mother but you’re choosing not to.”

“I understand where you’re coming from Bellamy, I really do. Maybe some other time, but right now I’m just really not ready to face her. Not since our last exchange. It still hurts too much.” Realising just how bad Clarke is still hurting, Bellamy decides to back off and start comforting.

“Let’s do something relaxing tonight. I think you’re stiff from all that painting. You need to unwind.”

“You’re probably right. If only we had a bath tub, it’d be so nice to take a bath.”

“Or a hot tub, I could really go for a soak in a hot tub right now.”

“Well when we’re rich as fuck and I move up to Canada with you, we’ll get a house with an indoor hot tub, how does that sound?”

“It sounds perfect.”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> eeep, things are starting to wrap up!


	33. Chapter 33

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They go to the event in the art gallery in Buffalo, and visit the cemetery for Wells' birthday

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter took so long, I'm getting kind of busy with school

Within the week, Clarke gets a call from the man from the art gallery. He tells her to be there on Friday by 6:00PM so they can set up her display. She needs to be at the gallery at 8:00AM on Saturday so she can interact with people visiting the museum. She asked, and is allowed to have Bellamy with her. He tells her that the entire, two day, 16 hour total event will pay her $10,000, which she would have spit her drink out at if she had one. When she tells Bellamy, he is drinking something and he does spit it all over the table.

Clarke looks at the websites for art galleries and art schools in Toronto and the surrounding area, but none of them seem to be hiring. She really doesn’t want to have to elope, but the more she searches the more it looks like that will be the case.

The exhibit at the art gallery in Buffalo comes in the blink of an eye. Clarke was able to make 18 works in the month of time she had, so Bellamy helps her narrow it down to 12. She takes all of them along for the ride just in case though.

They show up in Buffalo at quarter to six. The traffic was worse than they were expecting, they were planning on checking into their hotel before visiting the museum but that’s not how it happens. They hurry into the gallery with armfuls of canvas, and panic as they search the gallery. They’re relieved to find out that they’re not the last ones of the five people featured to show up.

There’s a small corner in the gallery dedicated to the five of them, which is closed off to the public while they set up their display. Because Bellamy is quite a bit taller than Clarke, he helps her get the paintings onto the higher hooks. Once they’re set up, they get a low-down from the man in charge of the display, then are set free in the city of Buffalo until 7:30AM.

“Want to stop down at the cemetery tonight Princess?” Bellamy asks on their way out of the gallery.

“No, his actual birthday isn’t until tomorrow, so we’ll do it after the event. Why don’t we just go back to our hotel and relax for the night. I’m really in the mood for some spooning.”

“I bet there’s a bathtub in there.”

“I’m in.”

 

They get into their hotel, and Clarke immediately starts running the bathwater while Bellamy brings their bags in. She’s stark naked, folded in half, and swaying her hips when he comes in. He climbs into the tub before her, and she sits down facing away from him between his legs. Leaning forward, she turns off the water, then twists in his arms so she can meet his lips for a kiss. They sit like that for a while, not really talking, just keeping close body contact and reveling in each other’s presence.

Clarke falls asleep in Bellamy’s arms after about half an hour, so Bellamy figures bath time needs to be over at the point. He’s thankful for it too, because his legs were falling asleep but he didn’t want to stir her in order to reposition.

 

The first day of the exhibit is pretty dull. People come by, ask her questions about her work, ask how they can buy some, but nothing all too interesting happens. A few times she gets Bellamy to go out to the car to sell a person one of her extra paintings, rounding her up a good $3000 from that. The exhibit closes at four, and Clarke’s heart immediately drops because she knows what comes next.

“Can we drop off at a florist or something first? I want to get something nice for him.”

“Of course Princess.” He drops her off and she runs in, emerging with a bouquet of blue and white flowers.

Bellamy can tell from Clarke’s irregular breathing pattern that she’s having a hard time on the way to the cemetery.

“Would it help you to talk?” He asks, “ Why don’t you tell me some stories?” Clarke doesn’t say a word, but her mouth flattens and she nods. A face of thought sits there for a while, but her face perks up when she gets and idea.

“Alright, we were probably six years old when this one happened. I had a swing set in my backyard and Wells had come over to visit. We were playing on the swings, and he was sitting on the seat. I climbed up on to his lap, and he started swinging. We were going faster and higher than I expected, and I guess out of fear I peed my pants right on his lap. I ran inside and changed into new bottoms and underwear, and Wells ran inside and started telling his mom about what happened. Of course she didn’t believe him, because his lap was soaked in pee and I was wearing fresh pants so there was no wet spot to be seen. Wells got lectured for peeing his pants while I sat there smugly, and I was only found out when my mom got my pee smelling laundry out of the hamper.”

“You were playing outside unsupervised at six years old?”

“Okay maybe we were a little older, but either way I still pissed on his lap and he took the blame. One time we wore each others’ shoes for a whole day. We were like ten, so his shoes were way too small for me. I had so many blisters on my feet from that.”

“Did you ever make him wear a dress?”

“I didn’t wear a lot of dresses when I was younger. My mom was never the frilly girly type, so she didn’t force that kind of lifestyle on me. I do remember a tea party we had once though. I made him wear a tiara and I put some glitter glue on his face, and we drank some lukewarm water out of plastic tea cups. Looking back, I don’t understand the appeal of having a tea party as a kid.”

“I remember many a tea party with Octavia. She made me put on a dress once, and when my dad walked in I took a harsh lecture about it and that was the last time that ever happened.”

“Fuck your dad. Yeah so Wells really could never sing, but there was like one year of his life that he thought he was just great. I tried so hard to convince him not to enter the talent show, but he wouldn’t hear me out no matter how long and desperately I begged. I can’t remember what song he sang, but I have a feeling it was by the Black Eyed Peas. There was an awkward silence after his performance, because of course middle schoolers are ruthless, and I remember having to comfort him for like 45 minutes before he finally stopped crying.”

“Did you ever perform in a talent show?”

“As a matter of fact I did. It was in high school, maybe grade 9 or 10. I managed to assemble a band, and I was the lead singer. I bossed everyone around because that’s just how I am, and even though we made it to the finals, no one wanted to keep working with me and they all quit before we could work out our second song.”

“Nonsense, you’re a great leader.”

“Yeah, but it was high school, every teenager wants to be the leader. Nobody wants to take shit from anyone, me in particular.”

“We’ve got about five more minutes until we get there Clarke, any other stories you want to tell?”

“Yeah sure, I’ve got one. There was a high school formal, we were either in grade nine or ten. He had come with a date even though he was fully in love with me, and I had just come with a group of friends. Part way through the dance, his date left him to go dance with another guy, which left him to sulk in the corner. When another slow song picked up and he was still sitting with his eyes cast down, I went over to him for a dance. It was quite awkward at first, he didn’t know whether to leave his hands on my hips or loop his arms around my waist. By the end of it he just had his hands up on my ribcage and was as far away from me as he could get. Probably because he was sweating buckets and he didn’t want me to notice. I have no idea why he was so nervous though, we were such close friends and there was nothing we didn’t know about each other.” Clarke, who had managed to somehow keep her cool throughout all the storytelling, just now starts to choke up. The tears start to tumble down her face, and Bellamy takes a hand off the steering wheel to wipe some away.

He pulls into the cemetery, and Clarke directs him to approximately where Wells is buried. She finds his tombstone and kneels down in front of it; kissing it, stroking it, and effectively covering it in her tears. Bellamy, who had come to visit for just a few seconds, now slinks back to lean up against the car. Clarke is thankful for her privacy.

She strokes the tombstone and whispers to it under her breath for a while. Bellamy doesn’t do anything though, he just leans up against the car and watches her pour herself out. She gives Wells one last hug before standing up and placing the bouquet in front of the stone. Bellamy comes to collect her so she can cry into his shoulder on the way back to the car.

He doesn’t talk to her on the way back because he knows she doesn’t want him to. They get back to the hotel and she lays in her bed facing the ceiling.

“How about I order us a pizza?” Bellamy asks. Clarke nods, but doesn’t say a peep.

They eat the pizza together, wordlessly. Clarke falls asleep early that night, drained from a long day of emotional toil and stress.

 

Clarke is seemingly recovered when they get back to the exhibit the next day. She cheerily explains her art to anyone who asks, and makes a couple more sales. Everything goes to shit when two people walk into the room that Clarke most definitely did not want to see.

“Hey there Clarke! We saw this advertised in the paper and we thought we’d drop in to say hi! This is so exciting, how did you get yourself into this?” Her mom asks. Clarke figures she might as well be civil, because she doesn’t want to scare away the others that are admiring her display.

“I went to an art crawl in Pittsburgh about a month ago, and the guy running this exhibit stumbled across me and said he really liked my stuff. He offered this to me and I just couldn’t refuse.”

“And how do you have so much time to paint with all your studies Clarke? I remember last year you were struggling to get time for meals, how have you had time to do all this art?” After Clarke sends Bellamy SOS eyes, but fails to receive help, her parents eventually catch on, “You did not!” Clarke nods timidly.

“Clarke Griffin! You dropped out of medical school without even consulting us for a second in your decision? Do we, your parents, mean nothing to you? Did you figure as soon as you turned 18 you could cut us off from your life and you’d never need us again?” Her dad yells.

“We’re in an art gallery and all this yelling is disturbing the others. I’m going to have to ask you to quiet down, or to leave.” In his head, Bellamy applauds Clarke’s ability to keep her chill.

“I can’t believe you would do this Clarke,” Abby starts, “I can’t believe you would throw your whole future away.”

“You mean your whole future. I’ve been living out your dream mom, ever since you signed me up for science tutoring, since you stuck me in science camp. Did you ever think that maybe I didn’t want to do that? Did you ever think that maybe I wanted to go to art camp instead? My whole life you’ve been pushing me to become a little you. And sure I like science, but there’s nothing I’m more passionate about than art. In the past two months, I’ve made $50,000, so maybe little Abby’s future doesn’t look so bright, but Clarke’s sure does.”

Abby, who has tears brimming in her eyes, simply nods, “Your art is nice Clarke,” And she leaves with Jake trailing behind.

As soon as Clarke’s parents are out the door, she’s coiled tightly in Bellamy’s arms. The tension ever so slowly releases from her muscles, and she lets herself relax into his arms. And she isn’t crying, she’s not even close. A smile spreads further and further across her face.

 

Hours pass, and she continues to passively and nonchalantly talk about her art to people who she’s never met and will never meet again. She sells the last of the pieces that were in the car, and begins to pack up the ones that are on the wall behind her as soon as four o’clock hits. She’s lifting a painting from a low hook on the wall, when she hears someone call out to her from behind.

“Sorry sir,” She starts, “The exhibit’s closed.” But she regrets saying that because someone that knows her name and is actively seeking her out can’t possibly be a bad thing.

“Yes, yes, I know, this isn’t about the exhibit,” Clarke turns from the painting she’s taking down to look at him, “I’m Ondreas Torrelo, I represent the Art Gallery of Ontario. I came through earlier and was admiring your works, and I’d like to offer you a job at my museum.”

“Sorry, did you say Art Gallery of Ontario?”

“Yes, located in Toronto, will that be a problem?” Clarke turns to grin at Bellamy, who is already beaming himself.

“No, not that I can think of, please go on.”

“Alright, so we’d like to expand a program we have in which we have artists working for our museum, and visitors of the gallery can hire you to paint something specifically for them. We’d have a few of your works on display, and people can call you in and request a specific subject. I think you’d be absolutely perfect for it based on your wide variety of skillsets.”

“I really like the sound of this. I’m definitely interested.”

“Perfect, I knew you would be. And we’ll pay all of your immigration expenses for both you and your husband. Take all the time you need, just tell us when you’re ready to start work and we’ll open up your position. Take my card.”

“Oh, he’s not my husband,” Clarke says as she takes the card.

“Oh I’m so sorry, I should’ve noticed that you weren’t wearing a ring. He can’t immigrate unless you two are married or he has a job, but if either one of those two things happens we’ll pay his expenses too.”

“Thank you so much Ondreas, you don’t know how much this means to me. I look forward to doing business with you in the near future.” Clarke takes his hand in both of hers, and gives him a firm, meaningful hand shake. She waits to jump up and down and squeal until he’s out of earshot. Bellamy grabs her by the shoulders and looks into her eyes.

“The Art Gallery of Ontario Clarke. In Toronto. What are the fucking odds?”

“This is too fucking good to be true Bellamy. We’re fucking moving to Toronto. We don’t fucking have to elope, we can move to Toronto and get married whenever we fucking please.” He lifts her up so she’s looking down at him, and then their lips link together for a very long time.

 

They get back to their apartment and Clarke immediately takes out her laptop and starts looking for places in Toronto.

“What do you want Bell? Do you want an apartment in the city? Do you want a house in the suburbs? What would you say our price range is?”

“I think we have to rent first Clarke. We’ve gotta rent an apartment for a couple months while we get our shit sorted out, and then we can move into a house if things are looking good.”

“Alright, but I don’t want to be renting for long, because I personally think that paying rent is counterproductive. So we’ll look for an apartment now, and then when we get there and we’re settled in we’ll look for a house.”

“So let’s talk with immigration, pick out an apartment, and we can both move over there in late May when my internship starts. I’m excited.”

“I’m excited too Bell. And honestly a little nervous. Should we call immigration now?”

“I don’t see why not.”

 

They talk it out with immigration, and have no problem getting a license for temporary residence. The bigger struggle will come with getting their permanent residence visas. Clarke places their permits on the table at their apartment, and slumps her head into her arms.

“Everything okay Princess?”

“I’m conflicted,” She pauses, waiting for him to respond. When he doesn’t, she keeps going, “As much as this is an incredible opportunity, as much as this is the next chapter of our lives, as much as this is going to make us rich and successful and all that, we’re leaving everything. We’re leaving our friends, our families, everything we’ve gotten used to over the past few years of our lives. And the place we met, that Starbucks. That’s been our hole for over a year now, when we weren’t in our apartment or at school we were at that Starbucks.”

“Clarke, it’s a coffee shop. There are plenty of Starbucks’ in Toronto, we can find a new one. For someone who wouldn’t even enter a Starbucks just over a year ago, you sure have gotten attached to it.”

“I know, Raven should be giving me hell right now. But that’s exactly who I’m gonna miss. Raven, Wick, Jasper, Monty, Lincoln, Octavia, how often are we gonna be able to see them once we move?” Clarke chokes it out, then crumbles. He doesn’t know what to say, so he just takes her in his arms and runs his hand up and down her back.

 

 


	34. Chapter 34

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Going away party.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :( It's all wrapping up so quickly now.

They decide to break the news to the whole group at once. They have a small meeting in their apartment that consists of Raven, Wick, Jasper, Monty, Lincoln, and Octavia.

“Alright guys,” Clarke starts once everyone is gathered and sitting in the living room, “We’ve got something to tell you.” She laces her fingers with Bellamy’s.

“You’re pregnant!?” Octavia gasps.

“Oh fuck no, of course not. We’re just moving to Canada.” Everyone goes quiet, not sure if they’re serious or not.

“Wait, you’re not kidding are you?” Raven asks.

“Yeah, we’re not kidding. Bellamy got a job at the Royal Ontario Museum and I got a job at the Art Gallery of Ontario. We have our temporary residence license and everything, we’re moving at the end of May. Basically as soon as Bellamy graduates we’re out of here.”

“And the George Ezra concert?” Raven asks.

“I think we can afford to leave that night. Like board a plane as soon as the concert is over. That will leave us with about three days to settle in before Bellamy’s internship starts.”

“So that will be our goodbye party then. How about we spend the day together, go to the concert, and then take you guys to the airport.” Raven suggests. Octavia’s eyes are brimming with tears, and as soon as Lincoln wraps his arm around her she cascades into a puddle. And seeing Octavia cry gets everyone else’s eyes wet too. Eventually the group of friends is a big, sad, sob party.

 

After Bellamy’s long and stressful week of exams, he gets his marks along with the news that he graduated with honours. The whole group of them is at the graduation, where Bellamy receives his diploma: an honours bachelor of history, and Wick gets his degree in engineering.

Bellamy doesn’t feel like going to any of the graduation parties that are being thrown. He’d rather stay home and spend the night with Clarke.

“Ready for some congratulatory sex my little graduate?”

“None of those words were sexy. But why do you think I didn’t go to any of those parties tonight Princess?”

“Because you love me, and also because you knew you were going to receive some really good head as a reward for not dropping out.”

She shoves him back so he’s sitting on the couch, and she kneels down between his open legs. She’s not quite ready to start though, she has to tease him first. Her fingers walk up his right leg toward his crotch, and she unzips his fly. Instead of putting her hand in his pants like he expects her to though, she continues to walk her fingers up and under his shirt. After running her index finger up and down his rigid stomach a few times, she places a flat palm over his pec.

She uses her other hand to unbutton his pants and slide them down under his ass. Then she wraps her hand around his ribcage and brings her mouth to his v line. She nibbles and sucks there intently, letting him get more and more turned on as she pours herself into that spot. He starts to get hard once she puts her hand in his pants.

Her hand slowly moves up and down the shaft while she continues to suck the blood to the surface of Bellamy’s skin. The spot on his abdomen gets warmer and warmer as she suctions her mouth to his hip. Her teeth chew and graze the surface until she thinks she’s teased him enough and is ready to go down on him.

She pulls his underwear down so his bare ass is sitting on the couch. She’ll have to sanitize the cushions before their going away party now. She starts by kissing her way up the underside of his dick, planting a firmer kiss on the tip. Then she surrounds the tip with her mouth, and flicks it with her tongue. She bobs her head up and down as she runs her lips over his length, incorporating teeth and tongue sporadically. When she can tell he’s coming close, she gets her mouth off of him and flicks a condom out of her bra.

She takes off her bottoms and sits on his lap, not letting him into her yet. Their lips meet, but they don’t stay together for long. Their mouths are hungry, sucking and kissing all over each other’s faces and necks. Bellamy feels Clarke’s increasing dampness on his lap.

He grabs her breasts and starts to knead them, which is when she slides him into her. She continues to nibble on the corner of his jawbone while he thrusts upward over and over, feeling her walls loosen around him as she gets more and more turned on.

Eventually she starts to bob herself. She gets into the groove of things easily, and creates with him a very satisfying rhythm. As he gets closer and closer, he stops fondling her breasts and moves his hand down to her hips. He can no longer keep his focus on more than one thing.

He comes with a loud, vaguely threatening groan, but she keeps him inside of her for a few moments afterward. She folds herself over his shoulder and she hugs him, whispering congratulations into his skin.

The peace is violently disturbed when he shoves her off of him and onto the floor. She bursts into a fit of giggles as she curls up into a loose ball, exposing her entrance so he can insert two fingers. Her legs unfurl and extend over his shoulders, giving him plenty of space to work.

His strokes come with so much force that he’s essentially punching her cunt. Of course it hurts, but that’s not where Clarke’s focus lies. She curls up in a tighter ball as she comes, leaving a wet spot on the carpet that she will also have to wash and sanitize thoroughly.

“I thought tonight was your night Bell. You gotta let it be about you for once.”

“Come on Princess, you know I can’t do that.”

 

They group up at the apartment on the day of the concert. Everyone is in a pretty downtrodden mood, which doesn’t really make for good company.

“I’ve got an idea,” Raven says, “I feel like telling some stories about Bellamy and Clarke might be able to lift the mood. Also drinks. We need drinks.” Everyone nods and hums in agreement, and Clarke goes to the kitchen to get some beers and vodka coolers.

“Am I the only one here who’s still not legal?” Clarke says, popping the cap off her smirnoff.

“Nope, I’m still 20 too. I’m turning 21 this year though, so technically you’re still the youngest.” Monty says.

“You really don’t seem the youngest though,” Octavia starts, “If anyone seems the youngest it’s probably me. Your head is on so straight, you’re so serious and you know exactly what you’re doing. I’m so fucking excitable and honestly so lost as to where my life is going.”

“O, I’m not sure if you noticed, but I dropped out of med school a few months ago. I’m gonna go out on a whim and say if anyone here is winging it it’s me. And don’t even try to call me level headed because I’m the queen of panic attacks. I’m a control freak and whenever things look shaky I lose it.”

“Hey what kind of party talk is this?” Raven starts, “If I wanted to have a self depreciation party I’d have skype called my mom. Anyway, it’s story time. This is the story of how I met Clarke, which I guess a couple of you know but Bellamy, Octavia and Lincoln don’t,” Everyone turns their gaze attentively at Raven. Even though Wick, Jasper, Monty and Clarke all know this story, they all love hearing it.

“Alright, so it was first year, just a month or two in. I was wearing a white top, and I was walking around outside on my way to my next class. It started coming down in sheets, soaking the white top and rendering it completely see through. Not only could you see my every contour though, I was wearing a completely sheer white bra that my nipples were very pronounced through. I crossed my arms over my chest and started running around looking for girls who might have an extra shirt on them or something. Of course, it was raining buckets so there weren’t many people outside, and none of the first three girls I ran into had an extra shirt. And then I saw Clarke. She was the only person I could see from where I was standing, so I fucking sprinted at her. Confused, she kindly offered me room under her umbrella while I caught my breath. I asked her for a shirt, and without even raising an eyebrow she shrugged off her backpack and took one out. After taking a quick look around and finding no one in sight, I just whipped off my shirt right in front of her and swapped it for hers. From there it was pretty hard for us not to become friends. It was a week or two later that I found out she was dating my boyfriend.” Everyone who was laughing before the end of the story abruptly stops and takes on a serious look, but when Raven starts laughing they all start up again.

“I think my story about meeting Clarke is better,” Jasper starts, “There was some party, I forget whose it was or even when it was, but it was at some point in first year. She was drunk as fuck and she came up to me and started sucking on my neck. I was honestly just really confused, but I let her keep going until she started kissing me on the mouth. When I pushed her back, she went ‘oh shit, you’re not Finn’ and walked away. She didn’t remember it at all when Raven introduced us to each other about a month or so later, and I think this is the first time she’s hearing about it actually, based on the look on her face.”

“That can’t have happened, I feel like I would remember if that happened.”

“You are underestimating just how drunk you were Clarke.”

“Alright, now for the first time I met Bellamy!” Lincoln says. Everyone quickly snaps their heads toward him, because they really weren’t expecting him to say much, “I had been dating this little lady for about a month, and she hadn’t even told Bellamy about me yet. I was walking her to class and we were holding hands, but then all of a sudden she tugged me behind a tree. I didn’t know why she did it, but for some reason I figured it was because she wanted to make out.  I craned in to kiss her and she shoved me away, just as Bellamy was rounding the corner and saw us there. He ran up and punched me in the face, and Octavia couldn’t help but burst out laughing. Of course Bellamy was confused, and she explained to him that I was her boyfriend and she just didn’t want him to catch us kissing which is why she pushed me away.”

“Oh yeah I remember that! I gave you a brutal black eye didn’t I?”

“Yes you did. I had to tell people that I got punched in the face by my girlfriend’s brother, that was a fun week.”

“Did any of us meet each other in a normal way?” Wick asks.

“I met Bellamy when I was shoved out of my mother’s vagina and then placed in his arms!” Octavia squeaks. Everybody laughs kind of awkwardly and she goes bright pink.

“Well how did you two meet?” Lincoln asks Raven and Wick.

“Oh yeah he was rebound sex after I found out that my boyfriend was cheating on me. I’d known him for a while through the engineering program, but we never had anything going on. He was a good lay, so we kept it going. It took a while for us to actually transition from friends with benefits to an actual couple.”

“Wow, and now you’re engaged. Have you set a date yet?” Octavia asks.

“We’re thinking next August or September. We need some time after I graduate to actually plan the wedding. I’m not super keen on waiting so long, but I also want to do it right so it’s best we don’t rush it.”

Monty cautiously laces his fingers with Jasper’s, and no one notices but Clarke. They shush her with their eyes because they want to tell everyone themselves.

“Hey guys. We’re finally dating.” Jasper says.

“Fucking finally!” Raven cheers, “Gosh you guys have had this brewing for a couple years now. What made you finally decide to get it on?”

“Actually we’ve been getting it on for quite some time now,” Monty starts, nervously, “We just sat down and thought ‘why the fuck aren’t we actually dating’ and then we started actually dating.” Everyone laughs. Clarke is glad that their group now consists of four couples as opposed to three couples and two random guys.

“If we’re gonna make it to the concert in time we should probably get going soon. I guess we can split up into two cars, who hasn’t been drinking?” Lincoln and Wick both raise their hands. Wick, Raven, Monty, and Jasper go together in Wick’s pickup, and Octavia, Lincoln, Bellamy, and Clarke pile into Lincoln’s jeep.

“Do you guys even know any George Ezra?” Clarke asks once they get on the road.

“I don’t.” Octavia says.

“Yes you do!” Lincoln says, “Budapest, Blame it on Me, they’re on the radio all the time.” Octavia looks confused, so Lincoln starts to sing Budapest. He actually has quite a nice voice, but he sings for longer than he probably needs to.

“Oh yeah, I know that guy. Nice deep voice. His songs are catchy. Yeah, I’m a fan.”

“I have his album, do you guys?” Lincoln asks.

“Yeah, I had it before, and I made Bellamy listen to it before we came. What’s your favourite song Linc?”

“I’m a major fan of Cassy-O, and Stand By Your Gun is super catchy. Can’t get into Listen to the Man though.”

“Wow I’m just the same, and I love Breakaway too. Bellamy’s really into Drawing Board, but I’m just neutral about it.”

“It’s fucking hilarious!” Bellamy pipes.

“It’s totally morbid.” Lincoln tacks on.

“So what’s your position at the Art Gallery Clarke?” Octavia asks, trying to sway the subject to something she can actually talk about. They ramble on about their museums, and their living arrangements in Toronto, and every last detail about their upcoming journey.

“What about your cars?” Octavia asks.

“The moving service is taking them. The AGO is paying for everything so we figured we’d take advantage of them a little. It would suck ass to drive two different cars all the way up to Toronto, so we’re flying.” Clarke continues to brag about how well her job is treating her, then they move on to details about everyone else’s jobs. The conversation drones lazily until they pull into the venue.

The eight of them meet up at their seats, which are in the very front row. Clarke is ready to see George’s cute little baby face right up close. The opening acts come and go, and they’re all more than ready for George to make his entrance. He starts with Blame it on Me, which is what Clarke figured would happen.

“Wait!” Octavia yells, “That’s what he looks like!? I thought he was like forty and like dark haired!? He’s a small blond child? He doesn’t look like his voice at all! What is this?” Everyone laughs at Octavia’s complete and utter confusion, brow furrowing further and further as she watches him sing. “He’s gotta be lip syncing, there’s no way that that voice is coming out of his mouth.”

“Nope, it’s all him. He’s 22 and he’s British and he’s powerful as fuck. Now shut the fuck up so I can listen to him.”

He plays every song from his album since there are only 12, along with some covers. He saves Budapest for the encore. Because they were in the front section, they get a short meetup with George in which he signs some T-shirts, and they get a quick photo. The eight of them pose together with him, and as soon as they see the picture Bellamy and Clarke know that it’s going on the wall in their new apartment.

They drive in their separate vehicles to the airport, and share a plethora of tears on the way. Each person gets umpteen hugs from each of Clarke and Bellamy, none of them ever feeling it enough to be a sufficient goodbye. As soon as they turn the corner in the boarding gate, Octavia and Raven both dissolve into tears in the arms of their boyfriends. Clarke cries the whole way to Toronto too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just one more chapter then an epilogue guys


	35. Chapter 35

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A look into what Clarke and Bellamy's new lives in Canada are like.

All they manage to do is dress their bed before they fall asleep that night. Boxes and furniture and appliances are strewn about, but there’s nothing in them to put anything away. They save it for the next day.

They wake up and there’s nothing in the house to eat. They eat breakfast at McDonalds because they have no idea what’s around yet. They’re very out of their element. They get in a good grocery shop, then unpack until it’s time to eat lunch.

“We’re gonna be moving again in another few months you know.” Clarke says over grilled cheese.

“Are we?”

“Yeah, I hate paying rent. I wanna get a house. Pay off the whole thing at once. Something small but big enough to grow into.”

“What do you mean grow into?”

“Like when we have kids.”

“Oh we’re having kids, are we?”

“You don’t want kids?”

“Well I think you’re getting a little ahead of yourself here Clarke. We’re not even engaged yet.”

“Well we need to prepare for the future. No point in buying something big enough for just the two of us and then having to move again in a couple years. It doesn’t have to be a huge house, just big enough to hold us and maybe a couple small kids.”

“Alright, fair enough. So you wanna start looking for something now?”

“Maybe we shouldn’t invest in anything until we know your job at the museum is solid. It’s just an internship for now. We don’t wanna buy something and then get kicked out of the country because you’re unemployed.” Bellamy nods in agreeance, not feeling he needs to continue the conversation.

They spend the day putting everything in its right spot. They get their clothes put away in their dressers and their dishes in their cabinets and their knick knacks on their shelves. They’re really happy how they lucked out with the apartment, especially since they didn’t check it out first. It even has a bathtub, which Clarke is excited about and Bellamy is partial to.

They spend the next couple days just sitting pretty at home and adjusting to Canadian life. The money is plastic and there’s no one cent coins. They use mostly bagged milk, and have a ton of maple flavoured stuff. Poutine is a plus though, they try that on their second day in the country and are quite impressed.

Clarke and Bellamy both have their first shifts on the same day. Clarke gets to the gallery and there’s already a little nook set out for her. She has a large desk table, a chair, a notepad and some pens and pencils inside her office. There’s also a collection of canvases and an easel in the corner of varying sizes, and after a quick search of the drawers in her desk she discovers a wealth of paints and paintbrushes. She’ll probably end up bringing in her own brushes anyway, but the paints are always helpful.

Outside her office is a display of a few of her works, and a description of the program that she’s working for. It’s right near a reception desk where people can make appointments to meet up with her.

The first thing she does in the morning is have a more in depth chat with Ondreas about how she’ll be spending her time. He tells her that she’ll be meeting with customers during the day, and when she doesn’t have any customers with her she’ll be painting. He tells her that the gallery gets $800 up front from the customer for offering the service, and Clarke gets however much she sells the paintings for. Sounds more than alright to her.

She actually has more appointments than she was expecting to have on her first day. Ondreas managed to corral up plenty of customers without even having anything to show for her. The first customer she gets is a very snooty middle aged lady.

“Hello there miss, please sit down.” The lady takes a seat and waits for Clarke to continue talking, “The first thing I’ll ask is your price range.”

“Between $4,000 and $7,000.” Clarke does the best in her power not to gasp. She didn’t realise that’s how much she’d be making, but after putting more thought into it, she does have a very high profile job description. She isn’t selling paintings on the street anymore, she works for a very high profile art gallery.

Clarke goes over to her set of canvases and lays some on the desk for the lady.

“Any of these sizes will fit in your price range. As a rule of thumb, the smaller the canvas the less expensive your painting will be.” The lady picks her size, and then they discuss a subject for the painting. The lady says she’d like a boat on the harbour, so Clarke does a sketch for her and asks if it’s to her liking. With the lady’s okay, Clarke says she’ll call her within the next two weeks when the painting’s finished. She just hopes she’s accounted enough time.

She has three more appointments that day, and gets a start on a couple of the paintings. Based on her first day Clarke knows that she’s really going to love her job.

She comes home and Bellamy is already there.

“I thought you were working until 5:00.”

“It was just the orientation today, and it ended an hour early because I was far more knowledgeable than they thought I’d be. I guess they thought there was going to be an educational aspect to the day but in some instances I knew more than them.”

“So what actually happened?”

“They took me in and they gave me a tour of the whole museum. A few times they tried to explain exhibits to me and I shrugged them off and started explaining it to them. They gave me a description of my job, which was going to be setting up and writing the descriptions for the displays in the Ancient Roman exhibit.”

“What do you mean ‘was going to be’?”

“They weren’t expecting me to know as much as I do. They were expecting me to be an Ancient Roman nerd and that was the cap of it. After they witnessed my knowledge of all of the exhibits, they upgraded me. They’re going to try me in a consultant position. They want to intern me for a month, and what I do is I look at descriptions and displays that other people think are appropriate, and I can update and alter them to my liking. They also said I know more than a lot of the people in charge of the Ancient Roman section, and they said after my internship is over they might put me in charge of the whole exhibit. It was an eventful day to say the least.”

“Bellamy that’s ridiculous! I’m definitely also confused though, when do you have time to do all this studying?”

“I did a lot of it in high school. When I was battling with depression I would calm myself by watching documentaries about all this shit. For my four years of university, all I took were English and History courses. To say I’m passionate about history is the understatement of the century. I named Octavia after Augustus’ sister when I was four years old for crying out loud.”

“Bellamy I’m so proud of you. You figure we should start looking for a house now?”

“I haven’t landed the job just yet. I’m still an intern as it stands.”

“You’re an intern with a better job than employees ten years your senior. I think you have the job Bellamy.”

“It is so easy to fire an intern Clarke. I’d like to be on solid footing before we get ahead of ourselves. When did you become the impulsive one and I become the cautious one.”

“I don’t know. Impulse decisions have really seemed to be going well for me lately. I’m reconsidering my approach.”

“But we’re altering the whole dynamic of the relationship!”

“You sound just like me right now, we’re probably just rubbing off on each other. Why don’t we go out somewhere fancy for dinner to celebrate a successful first day at work on both our parts.” Bellamy agrees, and they head out to a steakhouse not too far from their apartment.

“Care to see the wine menu?” Their waiter asks once they’re seated.

“I’m underage.” Clarke explains to him. He seems confused and she doesn’t know why.

“Clarke, how old are you?” Bellamy asks.

“I’m 20.”

“And where are we?”

“We’re in Toront- OH give me that!” She takes the wine menu from the waiter and opens it up. Together they pick a wine bottle that’s $100, the waiter most likely wondering how two young people like themselves could afford to throw away money like that on a bottle of wine.

They have a plate of mussels as an appetizer, eat their steaks, and split a cheesecake for dessert. The bill comes to just under $400. Clarke giggles as she pays it in cash with an $100 tip.

“Is this the kind of people we’re going to be?” Bellamy asks as he escorts Clarke out of the restaurant with her wrist in the crook of his elbow.

“What, the kind of people that tips over 25%? Do you have a problem with it?”

“Well I don’t know how much I’m gonna make Clarke. I’m only an intern right now. Plus aren’t we thinking of buying a house. I don’t know if we should be throwing away money like this.”

“Bellamy, from my first four customers I’m going to make over $20,000. We don’t need to hold back.”

“I guess you’re right. But don’t let us be like your parents. Don’t let us be the kind of people who spends all their money on property and expensive vases and four cars. Let’s be philanthropists Clarke.”

“Of course Bellamy. There’s no reason for us to have eight bathrooms for just the two of us. Philanthropy was always part of my plan. I want to get a small house in the suburbs, maybe send our kids to a nice private school, but that’s as much spending as we need to do. I’m really into the idea of sponsoring kids in the third world, maybe we could sponsor a bunch of kids from the same village, get it on it’s feet or something.”

“The future is looking bright Clarke. Our future is looking bright Clarke.” He pushes her up onto the hood of his car and presses a few delicate kisses to her lips. She ruffles the back of his hair and hugs him close, knowing that things couldn’t possibly be going better than they are.

 

Bellamy runs into no problems for the duration of his internship. They really like him in the position he’s in, and decide they’ll keep him there for the time being. That’s when Bellamy and Clarke start looking for a house.

They find a two storey, three bedroom, four bathroom place in the town of Etobicoke, with a relatively modest private school within a ten minutes drive. Their museums are 20 minutes away.

They move all the furniture that they already have into their house, but the house is very empty. They basically only have enough to cover most of the the main floor and their bedroom upstairs. They don’t need to fill anything up immediately though, they don’t have any kids to furnish for just yet.

For the time being Clarke uses one of the extra bedrooms as a studio. She sorts out a way to only spend a couple of hours a day actually at the museum, scheduling all of her appointments in the mornings and then painting for them in the afternoon at home.

Bellamy takes over the office on the main floor. As time goes on, it collects more and more relics that he buys from the museum. He does a lot of working from home too, spending most days researching and editing from his laptop. He usually goes in three days a week to work on the floor plans and the displays of the exhibits in a way that it makes most sense to someone who doesn’t know much about history. He knows how to organize it so like things are together, even if they’re not necessarily correspondent in time.

Neither of them really have that much time to cook anymore. They usually end up phoning it in, buying pre made sauces and box mixes. Frozen lasagnas show up far more often than Bellamy would ever want them to. His grandma’s cookbook starts collecting dust along with the other cookbooks in their cabinet that have only been opened once or twice.

“How are we going to handle this when we have kids? We’re always busy Clarke.”

“I can start taking on less appointments, I’ll start doing this part time and stay home with the kids more. Work while they’re at school and be home the rest of the day with them. And I guess you can take on less too. You work from home most of the time, so just the days you’re out I’ll stay in. We’ve just gotta work enough to keep sustaining ourselves, we’re already more than wealthy Bell.”

“I should probably marry you soon, eh?”

“Yeah, why haven’t you done that yet?”

“Been busy, but don’t worry, it’ll happen.”

 

“Hey Clarke,” Bellamy calls out from the kitchen. It’s January now, they’ve been in Canada for just over seven months, “Come pick out something for us to make for dinner.”

She runs down from her studio and dives into the cookbook he has open on the counter. She flicks through the pages for a few seconds before realising what she’s reading.

“This is your grandma’s cookbook. I’m not allowed in here.”

“I think you’ll find a recipe you really like on 32.” Clarke cautiously pages through the book, being relatively sure she already knows what’s happening. She stares at the sticky note stuck to the page for far longer than she needs to. She reads it over and over and over again, letting tears well up in her eyes as she lets it soak in. She hears Bellamy clear his throat from down to her right, and she laughs as she takes the sticky note and reaches down to paste it to his forehead. There are tears streaming down both of their faces at this point.

“Clarke Griffin, will you marry me?”

“You didn’t even have to say it.” She says, meeting his mouth when she sits on both of her knees. The ring slides gently onto her finger and she marvels at it in front of her face. There’s one big diamond on it. One big, ridiculously shiny diamond.

“Why 32?” Clarke asks.

“March 2nd. The day of our horrible first date.”

“I love you so fucking much Bellamy.” And their lips lock tighter than they ever have before.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't believe it's over. Just the epilogue now :(


	36. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A look at what the future is like for Bellamy and Clarke

“Alright Kito, why don’t you take that green paint there and put it on the bottom. Make some nice green grass.” Clarke says. Kito, the young Kenyan boy dips his hand into the green paint and begins to smear it on the canvas.

“Like this, teacher?” He asks. Clarke nods and helps him spread the paint, before moving a few easels down to a girl named Malika.

“Oh, that’s a beautiful butterfly Malika.”

“Thank you Mrs. Griffin. I’m going to name her Risala like my mama.” Clarke smiles and helps Malika sign her name on her work. She hears the door open, and turns to see Bellamy in the doorway with their daughter Marina on his hip.

“What is it Bell?” She asks.

“The head of the school wants to talk to us, but I guess you’re busy.”

“Oh no don’t worry about it,” Clarke turns to face the class, “Okay everyone, wash your hands and then go outside to play. I’ll hang these out to dry, we can work on them more tomorrow if you’d like.” The kids all race over to the tap in the corner of the classroom and rinse their hands under it. Clarke lets them outside, and makes sure the kids are being supervised before she takes Marina from Bellamy and walks with him to the office.

“Oh, Mr. Blake and Mrs. Griffin, it’s so nice to see you here. Please sit down.” Clarke and Bellamy sit down across the desk from Mr. Oduya, the head of the school.

“Thank you both so much for the time you’ve spent here. I know you’re leaving in the next few days, so I really must express to you my gratitude.”

“No, Mr. Oduya, we really can’t take anything from you. It wouldn’t be right.” Clarke explains.

“Not to worry Mrs. Griffin, I think you’ll be quite happy to take what we have chosen for you.” Mr. Oduya stands up and walks out of the room, which cues Bellamy and Clarke to follow after him. He leads them to a large canvas, which is covered in different coloured hand prints, and says “Thank you Mr. Blake and Mrs. Griffin” through the middle of it.

“Oh Mr. Oduya thank you so much!”

“Don’t thank me, thank the little ones.” A swarm of small children comes up around the legs of Bellamy and Clarke. Clarke passes Marina off to one of the teachers, and proceeds to kiss each of the kids on the tops of their heads.

 

“Bellamy,” Clarke starts when they get back to their room that night, “I think I want another kid.”

“I was just thinking the same. But we shouldn’t do it here, we’ve only got a few more days, why don’t we wait til we get home.”

“No Bellamy, I don’t want to have another kid. I want to adopt one of these ones.”

“Well we can’t just take them from their homes and their families and their friends Clarke. I’m sure we could adopt a kid from Kenya but I don’t think any of these ones here are up for grabs.”

“I already talked to Mr. Oduya, Bellamy. He said there are actually quite a few orphans that attend the school, and there’s actually a pair of kids who live alone who really need someone to take them in. Their names are Endelea and Kito, she’s 11 and he’s six. We could adopt both of them, take them right home.”

“Are you really ready to take on two more kids though Clarke? This little one here is already a hassle.” Bellamy gestures to Marina, who is playing with some dolls in the corner. She turns to him and sticks her tongue out.

“I think we can do it. I know I really want to. How does that sound Mar? How would you like a big brother and sister?” Marina just yells a really long ‘yay’, which is enough for Bellamy to decide that he’ll do it.

 

Three days later, Mr. Oduya bids them goodbye as they enter the airport; “I’ll be sure to send you photos once we use your donation to renovate the school. A lot of it will go to getting kids in school lunches, because many of them don’t get enough at home. Again, I can’t thank you enough. Maybe we’ll see you again sometime?”

“Of course Mr. Oduya! It was an honour to help out, and I’m sure these little ones hear would love to come back and visit. Isn’t that right guys?” Endelea and Kito both nod their heads, and wave goodbye to Mr. Oduya as they turn the corner into the gate.

 

When they get home, they immediately stick the mural they received on the wall over the couch in the living room. Their guest bedroom in the basement already has two twin beds in it, so it’s perfect for Endelea and Kito. What they realise though, is they don’t have any warm clothes for Kito and Endelea to wear. All they have is very summery, warm weather suited Kenyan clothes, which will not be enough for their cold Canadian February. Tired and jet lagged Clarke darts out and gets them some pants, sweaters, coats and long sleeved shirts that she just hopes will fit them.

 

Even though they just got home, they’re found going down to Pennsylvania a couple weeks later. Jasper and Monty are throwing a housewarming party which Clarke and Bellamy wouldn’t miss for the world. Especially since it’s in the same town as the university, Jasper and Monty being the only ones who didn’t move away after they graduated.

It’s a quaint little place, one storey, two bedroom, two bathroom, but it’s quite nice. Kito and Endelea immediately gravitate toward their aunt Octavia, because she’s loud and exciting and they’re quiet and shy. There are six more kids than usual, but for the weekend, the gang is back together.

“I haven’t seen you guys in almost a year,” Clarke starts. She reaches out to touch Octavia’s stomach, “And you’re getting so big O. I had no idea you were this far along.”

“Yeah I’m only four and a half months.”

“How is that possible?”

“It’s possible when it’s twins.” Clarke and Bellamy aren’t the only ones that gasp, which means that she hadn’t announced it to anyone yet.

“Your poor vagina.” Raven says.

“Little Ben here already destroyed me down there, there’s no way I’m doing that again. C-section all the way.”

All the guys’ eyes are flitting around, practically begging for help. They try to use the close proximity to the children as an excuse to stop talking about vaginas, while everyone knows full well that they’re not listening.

And it’s like nothing ever changed. They’re all back to their regular banter, talking about inappropriate things at an inappropriate time in an inappropriate place. Years apart could never change a thing.

 

When the weekend is over, Clarke and Bellamy make one last nostalgic run through the town while Monty and Jasper look after the kids. They pass where the Murphy’s used to be before it closed down, they pass the school, Bellamy’s house, they’re old apartment, but most importantly, the Starbucks. It’s nighttime and the store is closed. Clarke presses her face to the window and looks in, then starts to trail away.

“Wait, Clarke, where are you going.” Bellamy calls as he starts to take something out of his pocket.

“You’re kidding.”

“No I’m not.” He says, holding a key in front of his face.

“We are not going to fuck in the Starbucks.”

“Oh yes we are.”

And it’s like they’re 20 years old all over again. Bellamy checks scandalous location number five off of his itinerary.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so sad it's over :(


End file.
